Wayne County couple accused of child abuse with wooden paddle

MONTICELLO, Ky. (FOX 56) — A Wayne County couple is facing child abuse charges after being reported for allegedly spanking two children with a wooden paddle.

Wayne County Sheriff Tim Catron said deputies were dispatched around 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14, to an area emergency room after social services had received an anonymous tip that a mother and her boyfriend were allegedly abusing her 2-year-old and a 5-year-old.

According to an arrest citation, a Kentucky Child Protective Services (CPS) employee had found bruises on the buttocks of both children. However, the 8-year-old boy was unharmed.

The children told CPS that their mother, 30-year-old Cindi Britt, and her boyfriend, 49-year-old Billy Hart, would spank them with a wooden paddle if they “used the bathroom on themselves,” per court documents.

Hart reportedly told deputies he’d spanked the 5-year-old three to four days ago and threw the paddle in the trash afterward. Deputies noted that Britt said she hadn’t spanked the children with the paddle in one to two weeks.

Court documents note that to cause the bruising the children suffered, Hart and Britt had to use “excessive force.”

The couple was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 or under. Hart and Britt were lodged in the Wayne County Detention Center on $25,000 bonds.