MOORHEAD – A Moorhead man is accused of beating his 16-year-old daughter with a belt and his fists, most recently after she told him she was going to tell a counselor about his drug problem.
Court documents say the girl told a Moorhead police detective Gilbert Charles Sifuentes, 44, had beaten her on April 21 after she told him to stop making noise early that morning because she had school, and that she would tell a counselor about his drug problem.
The girl told the detective Sifuentes then told her she was not going to school, and beat her approximately 20 times with his belt, on her face, arms and legs.
He then punched the girl from the chest up, 20 to 25 times, she told the detective.
The girl had lash marks and bruises on her arms, ribcage, chest, face, calf and thigh, a statement of probable cause says.
ADVERTISEMENT
He had beaten her somewhere between 8 and 10 times over the past 4 months, each time after Sifuentes was abusing drugs, she told the detective.
Court documents say she told the detective she had seen Sifuentes do drugs in the laundry room, she told the detective, and had started selling his hydrocodones two months ago and had her count them in baggies.
Sifuentes was charged Wednesday in Clay County District Court with one count of malicious punishment and one count of neglect or endangerment of a child, both gross misdemeanors, and one count of domestic assault, a misdemeanor.
His next court appearance is set for June 12.
