Miami Mom Beat 12-Year-Old Son Up Because He Didn't Do Homework, Police Say

A Miami mother beat her 12-year-old son for not doing his homework, police say.

Sharleen Hidalgo was arrested Tuesday and charged with child abuse and domestic-violence related battery, according to the Miami Herald. Hidalgo, 33, was still being held Thursday afternoon in the Miami-Dade County jail, in lieu of $4,000 bond, jail records say.

Hidalgo “berated and threatened the victim, grabbed him by the neck, threw him to the ground and repeatedly slapped, punched and kicked him because he did not do his school work,” according to the arrest report against her obtained by the Herald.

The attack occurred in May, but was uncovered Tuesday when Hidalgo’s husband gave police surveillance video from inside the family’s home showing the abuse of the boy, who is now 13, according to police. One of his other two brothers, 14, allegedly witnessed the beating, police say.

“The victim never reported the abuse, but the defendant’s husband discovered the video several weeks later and reported it to the Department of Children and Families investigators,” a Miami detective with the Department’s Special Victims Unit wrote in Hidalgo’s arrest report.

The husband, who has not been named, also provided police two additional videos, both of which captured Hidalgo "berating and cursing at the victim and his 5-year-old brother on separate occasions," according to the arrest report.

Questioned by police Tuesday, Hidalgo “confessed to beating the victim,” according to the report.

The husband also told police that Hidalgo “beat and scratched him and hit him in the face with a video game controller” on July 21st. Their three sons corroborated the account, and Hidalgo later confessed to that incident as well, police say. For that, she has been charged with domestic violence battery.

The Florida Department of Children and Families temporarily placed the three children with other relatives.

[Photo: Miami-Dade County Jail]