Mother charged with assault
A Cross Creek Township woman was charged Monday by state police after she allegedly assaulted her adopted daughter earlier this year.
Rana L. Cooper, 46, of 159 Cooke Road, Avella, is accused of failing to provide the girl with medical care after the child reportedly was bitten by the family dog and with not allowing her to eat, drink or go to the restroom until “points” were earned by cleaning the home, state police indicated in court documents filed with District Judge Gary Havelka. Those documents show Cooper and her husband adopted the girl in 2008.
Police said the girl, who was adopted by Cooper and her husband in 2008, soiled herself and would not drink for days. She also was allegedly forced to eat cat litter and scrape around the toilet with her finger and ingest what she scraped off.
Cooper also is accused of trying to gouge the girl’s eyes out and once tried to sew the child’s mouth shut, stopping after piercing the girl’s lower lip, police said. The woman also at one point sat on the girl until the child could not breathe and choked her until she blacked out, police said.
Cooper also allegedly inserted a Q-Tip into the girl’s ear, causing hearing loss, and shoved food in her mouth until she vomited. Cooper also is accused of hitting the girl in the face with a metal belt buckle, twisting her neck and biting her nose until it bled.
State police were first notified of the alleged child abuse in late May by Washington County Children and Youth Services. The agency was investigating an alleged assault at the girl’s school.
The girl told police she was allowed to eat only once a day and could not eat until everyone else in the family was done. She was not allowed to join the rest of the family at the table, police said.
Other alleged abuse reportedly endured by the girl included being forced to stand in the corner with drywall screws under her feet, being forced to eat a half tube of toothpaste and being spat on.
Police said Cooper admitted in a statement she also submerged the girl’s head underwater for three to 10 seconds.
The child was removed from her mother’s custody.
Cooper is charged with endangering the welfare of children, simple assault and reckless endangerment. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled before Havelka.