Probation for Albert Lea man who abused toddler

Published 8:30 pm Sunday, February 11, 2018

An Albert Lea man who reportedly abused a 19-month-old boy last June was placed on probation for up to five years Thursday in Freeborn County District Court.

Damian Haugen

Damian Wade Haugen, 23, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty in November to felony malicious punishment of a child.

He received a stayed prison sentence of 1 1/2 years while he was on probation. He was given a jail sentence of 141 days and was given credit for 141 days served.

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Judge Ross Leuning ordered Haugen to not possess firearms, ammunition or explosives; not possess or use alcohol or controlled substances with the exception of prescribed medications, attend domestic abuse counseling/treatment and follow other conditions while on probation.

Court documents state Haugen was charged after an Albert Lea Police Department detective was dispatched June 19 to a residence in Albert Lea on a report that the 19-month-old boy who Haugen reportedly knew had come to day care with red marks on the right and left side of his face. The marks were thought to come from a hand that possibly grabbed the toddler’s face.

Court documents state a woman who was known by the victim and Haugen found two kitchen utensils, a spatula and a pasta spatula after she got home. She thought it was strange because two other children thought to have been home at the time wouldn’t be able to reach the utensils.

A doctor later in the day reportedly believed the marks on the right side of the boy’s face were from a slap, and the scrape on the left side of his face appeared to come from something else striking the face after a slap.

About Sam Wilmes

Sam Wilmes covers crime, courts and government for the Albert Lea Tribune.

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