Burnsville Woman Charged with Beating, Burning Child

A Burnsville woman has been charged with malicious punishment of a child after authorities say she whipped a 13-year-old boy with an electrical cord and burned his upper lip with a heated butter knife.

Jeanne Shanell Wylie, 34, faces a gross misdemeanor charge in the case, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, a social worker interviewed the victim on July 1 about injuries on his back.

The boy told authorities that about a week earlier, Wylie had hit him on the back with an electrical cord. The complaint says the boy also had three “healing, looped scar-type injuries,” which were consistent with having been inflicted by an electrical cord.

The boy said he was told that he was punished because he “doesn’t listen,” according to the complaint.

Wylie denied hitting the child and told authorities that all his injuries were “playground injuries.”

On July 7, authorities learned that the boy had a burn on his upper lip, and he told them that Wylie burned his lip with a butter knife.

Authorities interviewed Wylie again, and she told them that she was angry at the boy for smoking, and that she had told him to turn on the stove and burn himself.

Wylie was released from custody on her promise to make all future court appearances. She was also ordered to have no contact with the victim.

An omnibus hearing in her case is scheduled for Oct. 27 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.