Update, 9:04 a.m., June 22, 2016 
 
 
 
 'It's been hell,' says Baton Rouge mom jailed for allegedly beating sons after catching them burglarizing home 
 
 Original story: 
 
 A Baton Rouge mother who caught her three sons breaking into a residence was arrested Tuesday after she whipped them as a punishment, East Baton Rouge deputies said. 
 
 But the decision to jail 30-year-old Schaquana Evita Spears on child cruelty counts was questioned by the local district attorney and scolded by strangers as far away as California, prompting a debate about where to draw the line between well-meaning discipline and child abuse. 
 
 Even Lisa Nicholson, the 45-year-old neighbor who said it was her house that was burglarized by Spears’ children, said she thought the single mother of six should be commended, not arrested. Though she wasn’t home at the time of the break-in, Nicholson said that as the homeowner she could have had killed the boys out of panic when they busted her back window. 
 
 “If it was me,” she said, “I’m gonna beat you before I let the cops kill you. I’m gonna do what I have to do. I’m not gonna let (my children) steal and kill and do all of that. I’m not gonna let them fall victim to the streets.” 
 
 Not seeing the video below? Click here. 
 
 Spears, who has worked as a cook and opened a small catering business, admitted she hit her three sons — ages 10, 12 and 13 — after she caught them breaking into the residence near her house at 5470 Satinwood Drive on Friday, according to a Sheriff’s Office report. 
 
 Her 13-year-old son, interviewed by child services officials at the juvenile detention center, told authorities Spears struck him multiple times with an RCA cord. RCA cables are used to connect devices like VCRs and DVD players to TV sets or CD players to stereo receivers. 
 
 He had lacerations to both of his arms and marks across his leg, shoulder, back and stomach, causing some bleeding, the report says. 
 
 Juvenile justice officials said they could not reveal why the son was at the juvenile facility. 
 
 The other two boys also had some injuries, with the 12-year-old showing cuts on his arm and the youngest child receiving a small scratch to the hand, according to the document. Spears was accused of two counts of cruelty to juveniles. 
 
 “Surely you would expect a parent to discipline a child who is burglarizing other people’s homes as this could be a deadly encounter for the child,” said East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar C. Moore III, whose office would handle Spears’ criminal charges, if they are prosecuted. 
 
 Moore said Spears’ case is being reviewed, including the seriousness of the boys’ injuries. He noted she has no prior convictions. 
 
 Spears’ criminal history includes a theft count in 2008 which was dismissed, according to court records. 
 
 In the Friday incident, her sons stole a hoverboard, electronics and socks from Nicholson’s house, and Spears immediately ordered the boys to return the items, Nicholson said. The goods belonged to Nicholson’s 13-year-old son, Trayquan, who said some but not all of his belongings have been returned. 
 
 “We oftentimes see children who have no parental authority or discipline which eventually results in delinquency and criminal acts,” Moore said. “We need more parents who discipline their children.” 
 
 Glenn Nettles, 53, came by Spears’ empty house Tuesday to see if his friend was inside. Nettles said Spears called him from jail, telling him her children were now being cared for by her mother, who lives out of town. He said he believes Spears’ 13-year-old is her eldest. 
 
 “She loves her kids. She don’t beat her kids,” Nettles said, noting the distinction, echoed by Nicholson, between “beating,” abuse that might involve chains and fists, and “whupping,” which he said is an acceptable form of punishment. 
 
 “Everybody �?whup’ their kids,” he said. “They do something wrong. What are you supposed to do?” 
 
 Nettles said he used to train Spears when they worked in the kitchen at the Hilton Garden Inn, calling her a “real sweet” person. 
 
 A Facebook page that appears to belong to Spears shows a business card for “MyHeartInIt Catering & Creationz,” listing her name and address. The profile includes many pictures of elaborate culinary spreads, some with pineapples sprouting from towers of fruit. 
 
 No one answered the door at her one-story house on Tuesday. A toddler’s toy scooter was the only vehicle outside. 
 
 Casey Rayborn Hicks, spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, said she was unable to comment on the criticisms of Spears’ arrest. 
 
 An online article in The Advocate about Spears on Tuesday drew some 1,200 comments by that night, as well as at least one donation pledge from a stranger in Oakland, California. 
 
 Louis Villa, 83, called the paper asking where he could pay Spears’ $2,500 bail. 
 
 “I had a single parent, and hey, she had to discipline us. Yeah, I got hit by an ironing cord, but it made me a better person. It saved my life,” Villa said, adding he imagined Spears might be like his mother: a single black mom who might not have the support she needs. 
 
 “She explained why she had to hit us, why she had to discipline us, why we had to be home at a certain time,” Villa said. “It just is not easy for black women in America.” 
 
 Nettles said an acquaintance who works as a lawyer is trying to help Spears post bail. As of Tuesday night, records showed Spears was still an inmate. ||||| Mom thought she was doing the right thing when she whipped kids who broke into home 
 
 BATON ROUGE - A Baton Rouge mother who was arrested by East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's deputies after she admitted to whipping her sons as punishment for breaking into a house has bonded out of jail. She told our cameras she thought she was doing the right thing by disciplining her children. 
 
 30-year-old Schaquana Spears was booked on child cruelty charges Monday morning. 
 
 The arrest reports says her 13-year-old reportedly told East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office detectives that Spears had struck him with an RCA cord multiple times. The boy had cuts on both arms and marks across his body, according to investigators. 
 
 The other two boys, aged 10 and 12, also had injuries, according to arrest documents. 
 
 Spears was booked into the parish prison on two counts of cruelty to juveniles with bond set at $2,500. 
 
 District Attorney Hillar Moore released a statement about the incident: 
 
 "Parents have the right and obligation to discipline and teach their children. We often time see children who have no parental authority or discipline which eventually results in delinquency and criminal acts. We need more parents who discipline their children. Surely you would expect a parent to discipline a child who is burglarizing other people’s homes as this could be a deadly encounter for the child. The degree of physical discipline will be reviewed. The law does not allow excessive pain or cruelty but does allow physical parental discipline. I only have the short synopsis which does indicate that the discipline resulted in marks on the child’s body and possibly an open wound. I will review all of the reports; meet with the DCFS office and review any history of this mother and her children to get a better picture of the entire family dynamics before making a decision. In the meantime my office is working with the juvenile court to ensure the speedy release of the mother under conditions satisfactory to the court." 
 
 News 2's Brett Buffington was there when Spears bonded out of jail Tuesday night. 
 
 "They're just being kids, being followers," Spears said. "I thought I was showing them this is not what you do. You do not steal people's stuff, what they work hard for. I know how that feels, I've had my house broken into." 
 
 She told News 2 that someone saw her story on TV and showed up to post her bond for her. 
 
 Multiple crowdfunding campaigns appeared in the mid-morning hours of Wednesday on sites like GoFundMe and Plumfund. The GoFundMe account had garnered more than $700 in donations as of 11 a.m. with the stated aim being "to find suitable care for her children during the summer (if she needs it)." Just 20 minutes later that campaign was no longer active. News 2 has reached out to the creators of the donation campaigns but have not received a reply at the time of this writing. ||||| Spare the rod? Welfare chief, attorney for arrested Baton Rouge mom differ on what constitutes child abuse 
 
 Spare the rod? Welfare chief, attorney for arrested Baton Rouge mom differ on what constitutes child abuse 
 
 The way to tell when disciplining a child has gone too far is when a child is left bleeding or with cuts, burns or bruises, the state’s top child welfare official said Thursday. 
 
 Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Marketa Garner Walters said in a statement that she felt “compelled to address a question many are asking” about child abuse but didn’t specify any particular case she was addressing. 
 
 “Reasonable, constructive discipline is a healthy part of parenting and an essential element of child rearing, but it crosses into abuse when it leaves a child cut, burned, bloody or bruised. We’re referring to something more than a mere ‘spanking,’ ” she said. 
 
 The statement comes amid a controversy over the arrest Tuesday of Schaquana Evita Spears, a 30-year-old Baton Rouge mother booked on two counts of cruelty to juveniles after she admitted to striking three of her sons with a cord, leaving two of them with cuts and one bloodied. She said she “whipped” the children after she found out they broke a neighbor’s window and stole some $1,700 worth of equipment, including a hoverboard, video game systems, a computer and other items, according to an East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office report. 
 
 Spears, who was released late Tuesday night after a judge reduced her bail, attracted defenders from across the country, including state Treasurer John Kennedy, who wrote an open letter to Walters calling for leniency on Spears. 
 
 “If you are planning to keep or take these children away from their mother simply because she disciplined them for stealing, that would be a ludicrous step to take,” Kennedy wrote in the letter. 
 
 “In biblical times, sparing the rod led to a spoiled child. In modern times, sparing the rod leads to an imprisoned child,” he wrote. 
 
 Spears, a single parent, said Wednesday she is working to regain custody of her six children, who are being cared for by their grandmother. Spears did not respond to a query Thursday. 
 
 “We are terribly upset she was arrested in the first place,” said Spears’ attorney, Brenden Craig. “We think the arresting agency would have been better served taking more time to investigate. I suggest they could have applied for a warrant, but they didn’t do that. They slapped the cuffs on her.” 
 
 Casey Rayborn Hicks, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, the agency that arrested Spears, said she does not have a response. 
 
 Craig said just because Spears’ children had cuts or were bleeding does not mean his client is guilty of a crime. 
 
 “She was doing everything a mother should do,” he said, adding that his client loves her children. “What occurred did not constitute abuse.” 
 
 Craig said he could not comment on the custody status of Spears’ children. 
 
 Walters said the Department of Children and Family Services encourages anyone with questions about child development and appropriate discipline to call Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana’s “Kidline” at ( 800) CHILDREN, which is available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. ||||| Update: September 13, 9 am – Adrian Peterson has been booked and released following his indictment for negligent injury to a child charges. 
 
 Peterson was booked into the Montgomery County Texas Jail around 1:15am Saturday morning. He was allowed in through a side entrance, presumably by a Montgomery County Sheriffs Dept employee. 
 
 Peterson posted $15,000 bond and posed for a mugshot. The whole process took about 30 minutes. Peterson left the Montgomery County Sheriffs Dept. around 1:50am. 
 
 By: Nick Wright 
 
 According to law-enforcement sources, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson beat his 4-year-old son with a tree branch as a form of punishment this summer, an incident that allegedly resulted in multiple injuries to the child. According to reports, Peterson has been indicted in Montgomery County, Texas for injury to a child. 
 
 The “whooping” – as Peterson put it when interviewed by police – occurred in Spring, Texas, in May. Peterson’s son had pushed another one of Peterson’s children off of a motorbike video game. As punishment, Peterson grabbed a tree branch – which he consistently referred to as a “switch” – removed the leaves and struck the child repeatedly. 
 
 RELATED: Former Coach: Adrian Peterson’s Dad Was ‘A Firm Disciplinarian’ 
 
 The beating allegedly resulted in numerous injuries to the child, including cuts and bruises to the child’s back, buttocks, ankles, legs and scrotum, along with defensive wounds to the child’s hands. Peterson then texted the boy’s mother, saying that one wound in particular would make her “mad at me about his leg. I got kinda good wit the tail end of the switch.” 
 
 Peterson also allegedly said via text message to the child’s mother that he “felt bad after the fact when I notice the switch was wrapping around hitting I (sic) thigh” and also acknowledged the injury to the child’s scrotum in a text message, saying, “Got him in nuts once I noticed. But I felt so bad, n I’m all tearing that butt up when needed! I start putting them in timeout. N save the whooping for needed memories!” 
 
 In further text messages, Peterson allegedly said, “Never do I go overboard! But all my kids will know, hey daddy has the biggie heart but don’t play no games when it comes to acting right.” 
 
 RELATED: Adrian Peterson Releases Statement 
 
 According to police reports, the child, however, had a slightly different story, telling authorities that “Daddy Peterson hit me on my face.” The child also expressed worry that Peterson would punch him in the face if the child reported the incident to authorities. He also said that he had been hit by a belt and that “there are a lot of belts in Daddy’s closet.” He added that Peterson put leaves in his mouth when he was being hit with the switch while his pants were down. The child told his mother that Peterson “likes belts and switches” and “has a whooping room.” 
 
 Peterson, when contacted by police, admitted that he had “whooped” his son on the backside with a switch as a form of punishment, and then, in fact, produced a switch similar to the one with which he hit the child. Peterson also admitted that he administered two different “whoopings” to his son during the visit to Texas, the other being a punishment for the 4-year-old scratching the face of a 5-year-old. 
 
 In an interview with Houston police, Peterson was very matter-of-fact and calm about the incident, appearing to believe he had done nothing wrong and reiterating how much he cared about his son and only used “whoopings” or “spankings” as a last resort. He offered up information that the police didn’t have and was incredulous when asked if some of the numerous wounds and marks on the child were from an extension cord, saying, “Oh, no, I’d never hit my child with an extension cord. I remember how it feels to get whooped with an extension cord. I’d never do that.” 
 
 Peterson also said, “Anytime I spank my kids, I talk to them before, let them know what they did, and of course after.” Peterson also expressed regret that his son did not cry – because then, Peterson said, he would have known that the switch was doing more damage than intended. He didn’t realize the “tip of the switch and the ridges of the switch were wrapping around [the child’s] legs.” Peterson also acknowledged that this was administered directly to the child’s skin and with the child’s pants pulled down. 
 
 Peterson later told police that the marks on his son’s buttocks were similar to the marks any of his other children get when he “spanks them with a switch,” but that the mark on the child’s leg from when the switch “wrapped around his thigh” was more severe than anything he had ever done in the past. 
 
 Peterson said he knew that his son had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for when he returned home and that the doctor would discover the injuries. Peterson added that if he felt like he was “really wrong for what I did, or had any ill intent, there’s no way I would have let him get on that plane.” He went on to say, “I have nothing to hide, but I also understand when a child has marks like that on his leg, they have to report that.” 
 
 RELATED: Barkley: ‘Every Black Parent In The South’ Whips Their Kids 
 
 When Peterson was asked how he felt about the incident, he said, “To be honest with you, I feel very confident with my actions because I know my intent.” He also described the incident as a “normal whooping” in regards to the “welps” on the child’s buttocks, but that he felt bad immediately when he saw the injuries on the child’s legs. Peterson estimated he “swatted” his son “10 to 15” times, but he’s not sure because he doesn’t “ever count how many pops I give my kids.” 
 
 Peterson went on to reiterate again how much he loves all his kids, and only “whoops” them because he wants them to do right. Toward the end of the interview, Peterson said he would reconsider using switches in the future, but said he would never “eliminate whooping my kids . . . because I know how being spanked has helped me in my life.” 
 
 After the child returned home to Minnesota in late May, the mother took the son to his previously scheduled doctor appointment and the doctor that examined the child said the injuries were consistent with child abuse and that it appeared the child had injuries from one incident involving a “switch” and another incident possibly involving a cord. 
 
 Authorities in Minnesota referred the case to the Houston Police Department to investigate. During the investigation, authorities determined that the incident did not take place on Woodway Drive in Houston, as originally believed, but instead in Spring, Texas, which is in the Montgomery County jurisdiction. 
 
 According to a law-enforcement source, Peterson was indicted Friday in Montgomery County, Texas, but has not yet been arrested. 
 
 The NFL recently unveiled a domestic-violence policy, which stipulates a six-game suspension for a first offense but allows for steeper penalties if children are involved. 
 
 RELATED: Vikings Release Statement, Say Peterson Likely To Play Sunday 
 
 As of publication, Peterson is not under arrest and is expected to play for the Vikings this weekend when they host the Patriots. (UPDATE: Shortly after publication of this story the Vikings deactivated Peterson for Sunday’s game against the Patriots.) 
 
 The Montgomery County Sheriff Office released the following statement: 
 
 On Thursday, September 11, 2014, a Montgomery County Grand Jury, “true billed”, Adrian Lewis Peterson on a charge of injury to a child. On today’s date at 2:47 PM, a warrant was issued and entered for the arrest of Adrian Peterson for that charge. Since the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office has referred the case to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, and the investigation has led to a, “true bill”, on a criminal offense, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office will not discuss details in reference to the case or investigation. At the time of this release, Adrian Peterson is not in custody at the Montgomery County Jail and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office does not have any details in the arrest of Adrian Peterson. 
 
 Peterson’s lawyer Rusty Hardin released a statement saying: 
 
 “Adrian Peterson has been informed that he was indicted by a grand jury in Montgomery County, Texas for Injury to a Child. The charged conduct involves using a switch to spank his son. This indictment follows Adrian’s full cooperation with authorities who have been looking into this matter. Adrian is a loving father who used his judgment as a parent to discipline his son. He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in east Texas. Adrian has never hidden from what happened. He has cooperated fully with authorities and voluntarily testified before the grand jury for several hours. Adrian will address the charges with the same respect and responsiveness he has brought to this inquiry from its beginning. It is important to remember that Adrian never intended to harm his son and deeply regrets the unintentional injury.” 
 
 Listen to Nick Wright Break the Story with Sean Pendergast and Ted Johnson on The Triple Threat
– Appropriate parenting or criminal behavior? That's the question being asked across the US in regards to the case of a Louisiana woman arrested Monday for whipping her young sons after they burglarized a neighbor's house. Among the people speaking up for Schaquana Evita Spears, a 30-year-old single mom of six, is Lisa Nicholson—the woman whose Baton Rouge home Spears's sons, ages 13, 12, and 10, broke into. "I would prefer for her to spank her own kids than for them to come into someone's house and for [the homeowner] to kill them," Nicholson tells the Advocate. The fate they faced instead after allegedly stealing what the Advocate reports was $1,700 in goods, including a computer and hoverboard: Per the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office report, the oldest boy's wounds were bleeding, and the 12-year-old's skin was broken by the lashes. WBRZ reports the 13-year-old's injuries were on his arms, with marks on his body, and he told police an RCA cable was used; the youngest boy had a small scratch on the hand. In a statement, the District Attorney Hillar Moore said the case is under review and noted "the law does not allow excessive pain or cruelty but does allow physical parental discipline." But some experts, referencing a 2016 study, tell the Advocate that corporal punishment is not effective and can actually lead to worse behavior. "It's been hell," Spears—whose kids were, as of Wednesday, in the care of a grandmother—tells WBRZ. "I never could imagine trying to be a good mother would end me up in jail." A GoFundMe page set up for Spears says she lost her job over the incident. "Jus [sic] want my life back," she wrote on Facebook on Friday. (These bank workers were publicly spanked for "not exceeding themselves.")