Greenfield Teen's Father, Grandmother Charged In Abuse Case: Cops

GREENFIELD, WI — A 17-year-old Greenfield girl's father and her grandmother have both been charged after police in Greenfield say her father hit the teen, and the grandmother tried convincing her not to tell police about it.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee, the girl's 45-year-old father has been charged with felony physical abuse of a child and the grandmother has been charged with misdemeanor intimidation of a victim.

Police were called to the teen's home on Dec. 16 after the teen's aunt went to police, saying that her 17-year-old niece was having trouble at school among other concerns in the household.

According to the criminal complaint, police went to the house that evening and talked with the girl. The girl told investigators that she and her father became involved in a conflict earlier that day, in which she threw a candle in his direction, only to have him chase her around the family Christmas tree before punching her. The girl told police that her vision went black, and she fell to the ground, the complaint said.

According to investigators, the girl asked her grandmother, a 71-year-old Greenfield woman, for a phone to call police, but she refused. Investigators said the grandmother took the girl to McDonald's and told her to go inside, but she initially refused because her face was swollen.

The criminal complaint stated that they returned back home after the McDonald's trip, only to find police there. The girl told police that her grandmother ordered her to not tell police about the punch, and instead say that she had slipped and fell because she did not want to see her own son go back to jail.

When police questioned the girl's father, he admitted smacking his daughter, but not punching her.

The father is currently being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on a $250 cash bond. The grandmother is out on a $500 signature bond.

The names of the family members involved in this case have been intentionally left out of this article out of consideration to the Greenfield teen.