Dad accused of beating 9-year-old daughter with belt (South Charleston, West Virginia)

Dad EDWARD SKAGGS is accused of beating his 9-year-old daughter with a belt after "catching her taking food" (Oh the horror--A child who eats. Maybe this dad should switch kids with the dad in Florida who beat his son for not eating. But wait, that's not possible. The child is Florida is dead.) The stepmother is the one who sought help. Not a word in this article about the mother of this little girl. That's typical.

http://www.dailymail.com/policebrfs/200907280887

Wednesday July 29, 2009
Man accused of beating daughter with belt

State Police are looking for a South Charleston man accused of beating his 9-year-old daughter with a belt.

Trooper D.E. Gregory was dispatched June 30 to a St. Albans home to investigate a possible child abuse complaint. Brian Gandee told Gregory that his step-granddaughter had been brought to his house on June 28 after a dispute at the girl's Smith Creek home, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Magistrate Court.

Gandee said his daughter - the girl's stepmother - brought her to the house. The girl's father, Edward Skaggs, 31, of Smith Creek got upset with her after catching her taking food, the complaint said.

Gandee gave the trooper photographs taken of the girl on the day she arrived at his house.
The photos showed severe bruises on the girl's buttocks and what appeared to be belt marks on her legs, the complaint said.

The girl told Gregory that she was "whipped with a belt by her dad, Eddie Skaggs, like a horse, striking her several times in the buttocks and legs," according to the complaint.

A warrant issued Monday for Skaggs' arrest charges him with felony child abuse leading to bodily injury.