MUNCIE, Ind. — A Muncie man who allegedly beat his children with a spoon is now facing child neglect and abuse charges.
According to an affidavit for probable cause, law enforcement received a report of alleged child abuse on June 24 and investigators were subsequently dispatched to the 5600 block of Kilgore Avenue in Muncie.
When officials arrived at the scene, they located two children. Because the kids had sustained obvious injuries, law enforcement requested they be taken to a hospital for checkouts.
During their investigation, officials determined the children’s parents do not live together or view each other as partners anymore. Rather, police said the two are co-parenting their children.
As they continued to examine the alleged abuse, investigators were told the children were dropped off at their father’s house on June 21 with no injuries. When the kids were picked up, they were both bruised, according to court documents.
One of the children had bruising around his buttocks, lower back and thigh area. The other child had a small abrasion on the outside corner of his eye and bruising around his lower back, buttocks and arms.
As their investigation continued, officials were told the children’s father had grounded them for breaking a window.
According to court documents, the kids indicated their father had hit them with a green spoon. The children also claimed he had struck them with a black soup spoon.
Per court records, the children alleged that their father grabs and pulls their hair when he is mad. The kids said their dad grabs their hair when he’s striking them with a spoon.
Officials ultimately identified the children’s father as 24-year-old Blake Allen Clendenen.
During an interview with investigators, Clendenen said he “never” hits his kids. Public reports on the interview indicate Clendenen was “dismissive” of the allegations brought against him.
According to court records, Clendenen said he makes his kids stand in a corner when they misbehave.
Officials reported that Clendenen’s story changed during the interview. He clarified that he never smacks his kids with a spatula to punish them — though he did claim that he hits them with his hands. Clendenen said he smacks his spatula against the wall as a scare tactic.
When investigators asked him about the injuries they found on his children on June 24, Clendenen said he did not observe any injuries when he bathed the kids that same morning.
Clendenen was booked into the Delaware County Jail on July 5. He has been preliminarily charged with two counts of child neglect and two counts of child abuse.
Child neglect and child abuse are Level 5 and Level 6 Felonies in Indiana. The maximum penalty for a Level 5 Felony in the Hoosier State is a six-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $10,000.
