A stepfather who allegedly held down a 13-year-old Burlington girl while her mother whipped her with a belt has been charged with child abuse in Racine County Circuit Court.
Bob A. Williams, 41, of Burlington, is charged with one count of physical abuse of a child – intentionally causing bodily harm as a party to a crime. The charge is a Class H felony.
Williams appeared in court Tuesday where a commissioner found probable cause a crime was committed and set cash bond at $1,000.
Williams’ wife and the mother of the victim, Victoria L. Smoger, 34, was charged in October with two felony counts each of physical abuse of a child and false imprisonment and a single misdemeanor count of intimidation of a victim.
According to the criminal complaint, City of Burlington police were dispatched to Karcher Middle School on Oct. 10 for a report of child abuse.
The victim told police her mother, Smoger, beat her with a belt on Oct. 7 and Oct. 9 as punishment for not immediately coming home from school after she was grounded for being involved in a fight there.
She told police that on Oct. 7 she went to a friend’s house without telling her mother and when she came home at about 9:30 p.m., she was greeted by Williams, who allegedly pushed her onto a couch and held her there while her mother “whooped” her with a belt – striking her about 10 times in her arms and legs over a period of two minutes.
The victim told police she suffered bruises to her arms and legs and a cut on her thigh that bled into her pants. She described the pain as a nine on a scale of one to 10.
After the beating the mother ordered the girl to take a cold shower “so the bruises would go away,” the complaint alleges.
The girl told investigators she woke up sore the next morning and was told by Smoger that she “better not tell anyone at school about the beating.”
On Oct. 9, the girl again came home late. This time Smoger allegedly ordered the girl to remove her own belt, which she then used to strike the girl. The victim told police her mother became frustrated because she was attempting to block the blows from the belt. When the belt began to rip, the mother allegedly used it to tie the girl’s hands together and then resumed beating her with another belt.
The complaint contends the girl attempted to run from the beating, but suffered blows to the chest and neck areas. The victim told police the beating lasted about 10 minutes.
The complaint alleges Smoger again ordered her daughter to take a cold shower to minimize bruising.
Two police officers met with the girl and reported that her injuries were recent and consistent with a beating from a belt.
A preliminary hearing in Williams’ case has been set for Dec. 17.
Smoger has been arraigned on the charges leveled against her and the case is proceeding toward trial, according to online court records. Conditions of Smoger’s bond have been modified to allow her to have contact with her daughter at the discretion of the county Human Services Department.
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