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Police: Adoptive parents beat, forced children in care to take ice baths

The Daily Nonpareil - 3/24/2018

A preliminary hearing for a Council Bluffs woman accused of child endangerment and neglect was held in Pottawattamie County Court Friday.

Mallory McCormick, 30, faces four counts of neglect, two counts of child endangerment resulting in injury and willful injury. She is also facing having her probation revoked after she pleaded guilty to theft and forgery charges in 2017.

A warrant for the arrest of David McCormick, 35, has been issued by police.

According to court records, the Department of Human Services contacted authorities over concerns Mallory McCormick had abused a child formerly in her care as an adoptive parent.

The child told investigators he and his two siblings would be locked in a closet "all of the time" after school, only being allowed out to eat before returning to the closet until bedtime. Sometimes they were fed, sometimes they were not, the boy told authorities.

"He also stated David and Mallory would give them ice cold baths ... they would hold his head down under water as a form of discipline," the report stated.

The boy also said Mallory McCormick broke his leg as punishment for being naughty for the babysitter, the report stated. When taken to the hospital, both adults allegedly told the child to lie and say he broke his leg by jumping off a staircase, authorities said.

The other children allegedly also told investigators similar details when interviewed.

Mallory McCormick's jury trial is set for May 30.