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SALT LAKE CITY — A mother accused of abusing her two young daughters now faces several felony charges.
Lucinda Escobar, 30, of Salt Lake City, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with child abuse, a second-degree felony; child abuse, a class A misdemeanor; two counts of endangerment of a child, a third-degree felony; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor.
On Aug. 2, a Salt Lake police officer investigating a possible shoplifting at a convenience store, 500 N. Redwood, found a 10-year-old girl with obvious injuries, according to police. She had bruises, welts and red marks on her face, legs and arms and blood coming out one of her ears, according to charging documents.
The girl told police that her mother had slapped her in the past, and hit her in the face and body with a belt with metal rings on it, the charges state. The mother also allegedly put a belt around the girl's neck to both strangle her and "keep her from getting away so (Escobar) could hit her again."
When police went to the girl's house, they discovered her 5-year-old sister had also been hit twice with a belt that day because she failed to inform her mother that her sister had picked on her, the charges state.
Investigators found a belt with quarter-sized rings on it that were "deformed from repeated use and were sharp," according to charging documents, and black hair was also caught in the metal rings.
A meth pipe and a scale with white residue on it were also found in the apartment near the children's clothes, according to charging documents.
Escobar told police that her mother "had evil in her and she sees the same evil" in her 10-year-old daughter.
After being taken to a local hospital to be checked out, police say the girls were taken into state protective custody.
