Two Women Charged With Severely Punishing Child, 5

Two Lexington women were arrested on Sunday and charged with severely punishing a 5-year-old boy.

The Lexington County Sheriff's Department says the two women used an 18-inch-long switch made from a tree branch to hit the boy repeatedly, leaving red marks all over his back as well as major bruises and open wounds on his face, arms, legs and upper torso. The switch was between one-half-inch and one-quarter-inch in diameter. Deputies found little pieces of wood broke off from the switch and were strewn on the living room floor.

The boy was treated at Palmetto Health Richland Memorial Hospital.

Heidi Michelle Oberg, 26, was charged with unlawful conduct towards a child by a legal custodian. She was being held Tuesday on a $75,000 bond. The charge is a felony that carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.

Courtney Michelle Woodard, 29, was charged with second-degree assault and battery. She was released from the county Detention Center on Monday, after posting a $20,000 bond. The charge is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison.

According to a release from the Sheriff's Department, at about 5 p.m. Sunday, Oberg maliciously caused bodily harm to the boy at a Lexington home by repeatedly whipping him. 

The warrant alleges that Woodard pushed the boy against a wall inside the Lexington home while Oberg repeatedly whipped the him with the switch, Sheriff James Metts said.

According to the release, deputies found Oberg with an odor of alcohol on her breath. The boy was sitting in a chair in the living room, with the chair facing a wall.

Witnesses told deputies that they could hear the 5-year-old boy crying from outside the Lexington home while Oberg and Woodard assaulted the boy, Metts said.