Edina Couple Charged With Felony Child Abuse & Neglect

Edina Couple Charged With Felony Child Abuse & Neglect

By Echo Menges

According to court documents Christie E. Eslinger, 32, of
Edina is charged with three Class C Felony counts of Child Endangerment in the
First Degree. It has been alleged that Eslinger allowed her live-in boyfriend,
Matthew E. Coop, to physically abuse her three children, ages 13, 7 and 4
between November 1, 2011 and January 29, 2012. It is also alleged Eslinger left
the children home alone overnight on numerous occasions between the above
mentioned dates.

Matthew E. Coop, 25, of Edina is facing three Class C Felony
counts of Child Abuse in the First Degree and two Class C Felony counts of
Child Endangerment in the First Degree.

Coop is accused of beating his girlfriend’s children in a
“severe and rough manner” with a “belt” and striking the youngest child so hard
the child fell off of a chair causing the child’s head to strike a wall.

Coop is also accused of attempting to give one of the
children “beer” then striking the child after the child refused to drink it.
The above-mentioned incidents are alleged to have happened between November 1,
2011 and January 29, 2012.

Officer Jeanette Randall of the Edina Police Department
investigated the couple.

The Knox County Prosecutors Office obtained warrants for the
arrests of Eslinger and Coop on Thursday, February 2, 2012.

Edina Police Officer Jeanette Randall and Knox County
Sheriff’s Deputy David Fagin took Eslinger into custody on Friday night,
February 3, at the Edina Apartments. She is being held at the Lewis County Jail
on a $15,000 cash only bond.

Coop was taken into
custody at a residence in Kahoka by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office on
Friday, February 3, and is being held at the Lewis County Jail on a $25,00 cash
only bond.

If convicted each count of Felony Child Endangerment and
Felony Child Abuse comes with a sentence of up to seven years in prison.