Yvonne Legardy, Las Cruces, New Mexico mom arrested twice in one week for child abuse as a parents form of punishment is found to go overboard including forcing kids to chain smoke until they threw up and pepper spraying them.
A Las Cruces, New Mexico mother was arrested two times in the same week, both times for allegedly abusing her children, including forcing them to smoke cigarettes until they vomited along with spraying them with pepper spray as part of ‘disciplinary measures.’
Yvonne Legardy, 40, was taken into custody on Monday and Thursday of this week, each time being charged with abuse of a child not resulting in death or great bodily harm according to KFOX14.
The Las Cruces Police Department arrested the Las Cruces mom on Monday for allegedly beating one of her kids with the handle of a mop.
According to the arrest report, on May 31, Legardy’s 14-year-old son ran from home and sought shelter at the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library branch after Legardy allegedly hit him with a blue metal mop.
The boy told police that Legardy hit him with the mop because he did not clean the backyard ‘properly.’
According to the arrest report, the boy had multiple six-inch long welts on his body that were swollen and cylinder-shaped like a mop handle.
Around the same time, authorities noted that Legardy had called the police to report the child as a ‘runaway.’
Police soon arrived at the family home, with Legardy confirming that she had argued with the child in the garage but for different reasons.
Legardy told police that she was confronting the child over ‘contraband’ and when she tried to search him, she says the boy became defensive and ran away.
Police noted in the report that while speaking with Legardy, they spotted a blue and silver metal mop stick in the garage which matched the boy’s description of the mop and showed signs of damage– damage police say is consistent with the beating as described by the victim.
The episode was the second child abuse case reported in this household.
As investigators were looking into the initial allegations levied against Legardy, they learned about another incident involving the parent when Legardy discovering a vaping device which led to the mom pepper-spraying several of her children along with forcing them to chain smoke cigarettes until they threw up.
Of note, Legardy’s husband, Lerenzo Andre Legardy, is currently behind bars for allegedly abusing two of her children.
Legardy currently remains in detention at the Dona Ana County Detention Center where she is being held without bond. She is scheduled to appear in court again for a preliminary examination on July 31, records show.
