A 21-year-old Gardnerville Ranchos woman was charged with gross misdemeanor child abuse, accused of leaving her 4-year-old son with her boyfriend who is accused of beating the child with a belt.
Shelia Hutchison is to appear in East Fork Justice Court on Feb. 22, charged with child abuse, neglect or endangerment. She was arrested at her residence Feb. 4 and jailed on $5,000 bail.
According to the criminal complaint, Hutchison left her 4-year-old son unsupervised with Ruslan Sadonov, 21. She is accused of allowing Sadonov to inflict pain and suffering on her child through beatings, spankings or whippings and failed to report the abuse.
If she bails out of jail, Hutchison may have no contact with the victim or his 2-month-old sister who have been placed with relatives.
Sadonov was arrested Jan. 19, after a school nurse contacted authorities about bruises, strap marks and hand prints on the little boy's arms and legs.
He reportedly told authorities that his daddy had spanked him four or five times because he wouldn't clean his room.
Court documents indicated Sadonov was angry because the victim painted nail polish on the kitchen floor.
Sadonov was charged with felony child abuse and jailed on $25,000 bail. He is to appear in Justice Court on Feb. 22.
Authorities also were called to the residence in October on a report of a little boy wandering around unsupervised near the busy intersection of Kimmerling and Tillman shortly before 2 p.m.
He knew his address and deputies knocked for several minutes before a man answered. He said Sadonov and Hutchison were sleeping. The mother said the little boy was supposed to be at school.
She was unable to say whether he had been at school or spent two hours on his own.
