Woman Videotaped While Hitting Daughter Gets Probation, Fine
A woman caught on a department store security video hitting her 4-year-old daughter in the parking lot pleaded guilty Friday and was given a year of probation and fined $500.
Madelyne Toogood, 26, could have received up to three years in prison for battery.
The case drew nationwide attention in September after the surveillance camera videotape from the Mishawaka store was played on television and showed Toogood repeatedly hitting and shaking her daughter, now 5.
The girl had misbehaved in the store, taking toys out of packages and wandering away, and employees had to page Toogood twice.
“By the time I got her out, I was very upset about it and I lost my temper,” Toogood said Friday. “I went to the parking lot and I punched her in the parking lot.”
Prosecutors did not recommend a sentence to Superior Court Judge William H. Albright.
Toogood’s daughter is living with her maternal grandmother while Toogood works to regain custody.
The mother has been ordered to undergo counseling and to take classes in parenting and rage control.
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