Editors Note: This article was originally published in the March 6, 2024 issue of the Chronicle Progress. Some information may be outdated.
A woman is being held without bail after allegedly abusing her children.
Katrina Renae Hood, 27, was arrested Feb. 27 after investigators received a report of alleged child abuse and neglect.
According to a probable cause report filed on Friday, Hood was reported for allegedly emotionally and physically abusing her three children, all under the age of 5 years.
A Millard Sheriff’s deputy reported that when he and representatives from the Utah Division of Child and Family Services arrived at Hood’s apartment, she allegedly began to blame her oldest child, “citing her as unruly,” the report states.
“She mentioned she did not want the child and had plans to return the child to the Childs father,” the report reads.
The deputy noted there were markings on the oldest child’s face, along with bruising on a second child’s face. Hood was also observed “handling her infant in a way that was not reasonable to our society (Picking the child up by clothing with one hand),” and leaving the child alone on a bed. Deputies had to intervene to keep the child from falling off.
When the deputy and child welfare authorities were leaving, Hood was witnessed saying to her oldest child “see what happens when you don’t mind me?”
A warrant to remove the kids from the home was granted the next day.
“We were approached by a witness who stated they had seen a lot of abuse. We arranged to meet with the witness at the Delta Substation,” the deputy reported.
The witness allegedly told investigators multiple firsthand accounts of witnessing physical and emotional abuse and neglect Hood committed.
“These accounts included multiple times the infant would fall off the bed. The children including the infant being left unattended outside the room (A major roadway is less than 60 yards from this room.),” the report states.
The witness also told investigators they had witnessed Hood ignoring, belittling and telling her oldest child she was going to give the child away to the child’s father. The witness also stated they had seen the children with bruises multiple times.
During interviews with the children, they allegedly stated Hood had hit them multiple times. The witness also told investigators they had witnessed the oldest child with a split lip and bloody nose, and that the child disclosed their mother had hit them.
The witness listed other degrees of neglect by Hood, including leaving her children out in the cold for long periods of time without proper clothing.
Hood is charged with three counts of second-degree felony child abuse. She is scheduled to make an initial appearance in Fourth District Court Wednesday morning.
