Stephanie Broten, Darnell Landrum Made Daughter, 12, Shave Head, Wear Diaper In Street

Authorities in Fridley, Minnesota have arrested a couple for allegedly making the woman's 12-year-old daughter shave her head and run up and down the street in a diaper as punishment for poor grades, the Associated Press reports.

Stephanie Ann Broten, 38, and her partner Darnell Alan Landrum, 34, were arrested Monday night on suspicion of gross-misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child after police were called to their residence and saw a horrific scene unfolding.

Reports state that around 50 people, including dozens of teenage and young adult men, were crowded along the street watching the girl do wind sprints in nothing more than a diaper and tank top, according to the criminal complaint. Officers said the girl's head was completely shaved and she had likely been out in public for 30 minutes before police arrived, WCCO reports.

Fridley Police Lt. Mike Monsrud told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that when officers found the girl, she was "crying and hysterical."

"[Broten and Landrum] told her if she didn't [earn good grades], they would shave her head and put her on 'diaper duty,' which I guess meant running up and down the street and cleaning up trash as a form of public humiliation," Monsrud told the Pioneer Press. "Through the whole contact, and even on the way to jail, both were laughing and thinking it was ridiculous police would get involved in what they said was their parental decision."

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the girl had received an 'F' on her last report card and her mother thought the humiliating sprints were proper punishment.

The girl and three younger children living at Broten's apartment have all been placed in foster care, according to the paper.

The couple made their first court appearance Wednesday, and Broten was released on bail on the condition that she not try to contact her daughter. A small bail was set for Landrum, who has minor criminal history.

According to WCCO, Broten and Landrum each face up to a year in jail and a $3,000 fine if they are convicted on the charges.

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Comments

[anyonekl]

06:23 PM on 06/13/2012

If my child got an F, I would be looking at options for summer school or summer tutoring. Not as punishment (even though a lot of kids would see it that way,) but as encouragement and enrichment to help them in whatever short comings they experienced in school. Encouragement and enrichment - that is what every parent SHOULD want for their child. My heart breaks for this child.

[Jill Press]

12:51 PM on 05/12/2012

My guess is that these parents, who publicly abused their daughter because she got poor grades, did not do a good job as scholarly role models. I hope they go to the slammer, where they will get an education.

[hoochie-coochie]

09:39 AM on 05/12/2012

They must've been reading Arpaio's book on child rearing.

[Marioam]

12:51 AM on 05/12/2012

Unless you have never been subjected to abuse as a child you have no idea what this did to that girl. The real tragic aspect of this is that the parents continue to believe that this was alright and within their parental right. I was abused by my father as was my brother in a time when ' spare the rod, spoil the child' was accepted as normal. I have lived with the nightmares, the scars, the terror, a failed marriage and view any man who raises his hand too close to me as a threat. I am 63. Abuse is abuse and no one has the right to harm you, not even your parents.

[chales0317]

08:27 PM on 05/11/2012

If this is how they treat their daughter in PUBLIC, I shudder to think what happens behind closed doors. My heart breaks for this girl.

[Alan Nixdorf]

06:58 PM on 05/11/2012

While I would not do this to my child, I have to say no harm no foul. I would take this over over being beat down with a belt.

[Marioam]

12:54 AM on 05/12/2012

The problem is that neither is acceptable punishment. No harm no foul? I somehow think that you would not say that if it had been you.

[tjasmin270]

06:37 AM on 05/12/2012

This leaves an emotional scar for life. Some might prefer the belt.

[Lynn Marie Le]

06:51 PM on 05/11/2012

its sensationalistic stories such as this that make people think CPS is needed although the horrible tragedies that happen when children are taken from the parents....never reported...why is that?

[Marioam]

12:56 AM on 05/12/2012

Some parents do not deserve children and foster care is sometimes a better condition then living with savage abuseing parents. And I have seen news stories about foster care children being abused. We need stronger laws in this country toward child abuse.

[Lynn Marie Le]

03:24 PM on 05/12/2012

Unless you are a parent that is dealing with this horrendous agency...you have no idea what its like to have your family torn apart...it looks like you dont care much about children being abused in foster care...CHILDREN ARE BEING ABUSED IN FOSTER CARE!!!!! HELLO! Wake up....more kids are being alienated from their families in the system and ABUSED IN FOSTER CARE!!!! ALIENATED FROM THEIR FAMILIES!!! Again sensationalistic stories such as this dont report the truth of whats really going on...there is much that the public does not know....and comments such as these show that people would rather hear a story such as this...

[sis14slf]

06:27 PM on 05/11/2012

Wow talk about public humiliation. Not only is their dirty laundry aired in the neighborhood, It's on the web. I wonder how her grades are going to be now? I also wonder how many freaks are going to offer her a shoulder to cry on, and take advantage of her vulnerability.

[pam123040]

04:38 PM on 05/11/2012

This a 12 year old child, not a teenager or adult that is being discussed. Her head has been shaved, she has been ridiculed by her parents for incomplete grade at school. This is beyond SAD, this is a child who will have untold problems as a result of the parents actions against her. She must live with the public ridicule (some on this site), shame from some of her peers. How does this girl return to her school, go out in public, enjoy life after such a horrendous public embarrassment?
I wish you the best little girl. Hopefully, you will find love and someone who is willing to help you through this trauma.
No "F" grade is worth this ridicule.

[debRam]

02:23 PM on 05/11/2012

People were lined up watching this happen, and nobody tried to put a stop to it? Cops should've scooped up the lot of them.

[sasweeney1]

03:02 PM on 05/11/2012

Exactly. I would have covered her up, asked her where her idiot father was, and then had a little "talk" with him.

[Rambia]

02:47 PM on 05/17/2012

I was thinking the same thing. No one out of the crowd of 50 had enough sense to try to stop it...

[Satis214]

07:01 AM on 05/11/2012

The entire complex was horrified and came out to witness the abuse after calling the cops !
Yet posters are coming out in defense of these Monsters, and revealing their own hidden abusive tendences !

[lifehub]

06:00 AM on 05/11/2012

This terrible woman and that guy got this 'punishment' from the drug rehabs--those residential therapeutic communties where these types of disciplines are enacted against the resident patients for infractions or 'errors.' Some of these punishments include shaved heads, wearing huge signs around the neck, standing on chairs and screaming, sitting in chairs for hours and days without moving......These have long been regarded as abuse against the vulnerable, yet very little attention has been given to it due to their political connections and their cloaks of secrecy. Google 'residentail therapeutic communities' drug rehabs and you'll find them. Some of the names will be very familiar.

[2010WSCHAMPS]

06:15 AM on 05/11/2012

So you think this was okay then??? I don't care about 'familiar' names....I care about common sense, and these two should've known better, period....wow.

[Satis214]

06:45 AM on 05/11/2012

I guarantee you they got it from their church .Spare the rod spoil the child .The root to all child abuse !...Lets charge the preacher also, for encouraging abuse of a child !

[2010WSCHAMPS]

05:50 AM on 05/11/2012

Does anyone else out there see a disturbing pattern as it pertains to the "commenters" who think this 'punishment' was okay and that the police should've stayed out of it completely???

Yep....none of them can spell at a 3rd-grade level or put together a complete sentence, period. It doesn't matter if their daughter got an "F" in ANY class whatsoever...good, caring and mentally capable parents would NEVER think shaving their daughter's head and placing her in a diaper to run up and down their block in shame as a normal and reasonable punishment, period!!! And the parents laughed about it when the police arrested them???!! These people aren't fit to raise humans, let alone animals....

[liephman88]

05:22 AM on 05/11/2012

What? No! They seem like such kind and wholesome folks. ( Note Sarcastic air to comment )

[arcanumseeker]

05:21 AM on 05/11/2012

I think "Diaper Duty" for a couple of years behind bars should do it, at least til the girl is eighteen. Why would a mother humiliate her daughter like this, I just don't understand how a mother could be so incredibly cruel. This episode will haunt this poor girl til the day she dies.