Pennington woman sentenced for child abuse

BEMIDJI – A 24-year-old Pennington woman will serve more than 30 days in jail on a charge of abusing a young girl.

Deanna Antonia Beaudreau was sentenced Monday for felony third-degree assault, past pattern of child abuse. She was given a stay of adjudication; successful completion of her probation will result in a misdemeanor conviction.

Beaudreau must serve 33 days in jail, pay or work off a $1,000 fine, pay $160 in fees and serve five years on supervised probation. A condition of her sentence includes that she have no unsupervised contact with minors. She was sentenced by Beltrami County District Judge Shari Schluchter.

In August, Beaudreau entered an Alford plea to the charge. An Alford plea has the legal effect of a guilty plea; essentially, she did not admit guilt, but conceded prosecutors had enough evidence to convict her.

She is accused of repeatedly injuring a 10-year-old girl.

According to the criminal complaint, the child reported that Beaudreau repeatedly slapped, kicked and punched her and would spit in her face. She also reported that Beaudreau would drag her around by her hair and wrap it around her finger, pulling it out from her scalp.