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EAGLE MOUNTAIN -- An Eagle Mountain father was booked in jail because of how he dealt with his daughter when she didn't get her school work finished.
A concerned citizen called police saying a father had gone too far in punishing his 9-year-old daughter.
Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Matt Higley says they found the girl in bad shape.
Higley describes the injuries as "severe bruising and welts and red marks all over her buttocks, her extremities from a belt that her father had struck her with repeatedly."
Higley says from the injuries they can tell the girl was hit at least 10 times. The girl's older sister told police that when she came to help her sister because she was screaming, her father took a swing at her head but missed.
When questioned by police about the bruising, Robert Tuttle told police he had the girl pick out the belt and hit her bare buttocks as punishment, and that the girl deserved it.
"He told us that he felt she deserved what she got," said Higley.
The sergeant says when it comes to punishing kids, officers tell people there shouldn't be any marks left on the child.
"You know if it comes to a part where the kid can't sit down, you've gone way too far," said Higley.
Tuttle was booked for multiple counts of child abuse and has since bailed out of jail. The Utah Division of Child and Family Services is taking part in the investigation.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
