An Idaho woman has been charged with four counts of felony injury to a child after beating her four children as punishment for eating a tub of ice cream.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Priscilla Zapata, 26, of Canyon County, told her sister she “lost it” after discovering that her children had eaten the ice cream on the night of July 18 when the incident occurred.
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The children, two girls and two boys under the age of nine, told police that their mother had beaten them with a wet belt, shoved them against the wall, and shoved their faces into the tub of ice cream, the Idaho Press Tribune reports. One of the children reported that Zapata had grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the wall, causing the girl to be unable to breath.
In what police are calling “physical and emotional abuse,” Zapata also shaved the heads of her two daughters.
A medical examination was performed on all four children and showed that each child had bruising “consistent with being repeatedly, intentionally struck by someone with either a hand or an object.”
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“When we have serious allegations like these, we don’t ever want to rush the investigation,” Canyon County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Joe Decker told PEOPLE. “These things take time to complete.”
On Oct. 5, a warrant was issued for Zapatas arrest. She was booked into the Canyon County Jail on Oct. 24 and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 8. The four children involved in the case are in the custody of the department of Health and Welfare.
