A Baton Rouge, La., mom was bonded out of jail after being arrested for whipping her sons as punishment after the three boys broke into a house, WBRZ reports.
Schaquana Spears, 30, told the news station that she thought she was doing the right thing disciplining her children. However, investigators said that the mother went too far. East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office detectives say that Spears' 13-year-old said that his mother hit him with an RCA cord multiple times. The boy sustained cuts on both arms, as well as marks across his body.
The other two boys, ages 10 and 12, also had injuries, arrest documents said, according to the news station.
Spears was booked on two counts of cruelty to juveniles and had her bond set at $2,500.
"Parents have the right and obligation to discipline and teach their children," District Attorney Hillar Moore said in a statement. “We oftentime see children who have no parental authority or discipline, which eventually results in delinquency and criminal acts. We need more parents who discipline their children. Surely you would expect a parent to discipline a child who is burglarizing other people’s homes, as this could be a deadly encounter for the child. The degree of physical discipline will be reviewed. The law does not allow excessive pain or cruelty but does allow physical parental discipline.
"I only have the short synopsis, which does indicate that the discipline resulted in marks on the child’s body and possibly an open wound," he continued. "I will review all of the reports, meet with the DCFS office, and review any history of this mother and her children to get a better picture of the entire family dynamics before making a decision. In the meantime, my office is working with the juvenile court to ensure the speedy release of the mother under conditions satisfactory to the court."
WBRZ caught up with Spears on Tuesday night after she was bonded out, and the mother said that she was just showing her kids that it was wrong to steal from others.
"They're just being kids, being followers," Spears said. "I thought I was showing them this is not what you do. You do not steal people’s stuff, what they work hard for. I know how that feels; I've had my house broken into.”
Spears said that her six children were taken away from her.
"I never could imagine trying to be a good mother would end me up in jail with a criminal record like I'm a predator out to hurt my kids, who I live up. That's my world," Spears told WBRZ as she broke into tears. "Everything revolves around them. Everything I do is for my kids, and because I didn't want them to commit another crime, and did what I was raised to do, what my mom did to me, I'm a bad person. I don't think it's right."
Spears told the news station that someone saw her story on TV and showed up to post her bond.
Read more at WBRZ.