How Could You? Hall Of Shame- Rana Cooper UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Avella, Pennsylvania, adoptive mother Rana Cooper, 46 “was arrested this week for what police are calling excessive punishment and neglect that also included forcing her 16-year-old daughter to scrape the inside of a toilet and eat what was on her finger.” 

“A mother from Pennsylvania has been charged with assault and child endangerment after police say she forced her adopted teenage daughter to eat used cat litter and toothpaste, and started to sew her mouth shut with a needle.

According to police, the teen had to earn enough points for cleaning the house just so she could eat or use the bathroom.

Cooper also was charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of the girl she and her husband, Richard, adopted in 2008 when she was 10 years old. The couple have six other children.

The disturbing allegations of physical abuse include beatings with a hair brush, being spat on and being choked to the point of blacking out.

The matter came to light in May, as child welfare authorities in Washington County were investigating an alleged assault at the girl’s school.

The arrest affidavit filed with Cooper’s charges listed other instances of alleged abuse, including not letting the girl eat with the rest of the family, sitting on the child for minutes at a time, force feeding her until she vomited, making her eat half a tube of toothpaste and jamming a Q-tip into her ear causing partial loss of hearing.

 

‘If it was time to eat and no one else was around, mother would allow child to eat and would make the child shovel food quickly into her mouth,’ wrote state police Cpl. Robert Copechal. ‘Mother would then make the child tell mother that she was eating one of her brothers.’

The teenager told investigators that Richard Cooper, 51, witnessed his wife choking her. The husband told Rana Cooper to stop, the girl told authorities, but when she did not he ‘proceeded to just stand there and watch.’

According to the child, Cooper bit her nose until it bled, hit her in the face with a metal belt buckle, forced her to stand in the corner on drywall screws and made an attempt to sew her mouth shut with a needle and thread, but stopped after piercing her bottom lip. 

The mother also allegedly threatened to gouge the teen’s eyes out and slice off her tongue.

According to the alleged victim, she was also repeatedly bitten by the family’s pet Dobermans.

Rana Cooper gave police a written statement last month in which she admitted to holding her daughter’s head under water for three to 10 seconds, police said.

However, Cooper’s 24-year-old son, Ronnie, has come to his mother’s defense insisting that the allegations of abuse against her were false.

‘Nothing, none of that happened,’ Ronnie Cooper told KDKA. ‘None of these are true.’

The girl has since been removed from the home and put in the care of an older brother and another caretaker.”

Mother of seven ‘forced her adopted teenage daughter to eat dirty cat litter and tried to sew her mouth shut’
[Daily Mail 10/11/14 by   SNEJANA FARBEROV]

“When told by her husband that he was leaving the family, Cooper blamed the girl, grabbed her by the neck, twisted the neck, bit her nose until it bled, threw her to the ground and punched her in the face, the child told police.”

“A family dog bit the girl, but Cooper refused to take her to the hospital until she “earned points” cleaning the house,”

“Cooper is also accused of jamming Q-tips into the child’s left ear so hard it bled. The girl claims to be unable to hear out of her left ear as well as she does from the right ear.”

“Cooper is even accused of trying so hard to gouge the girl’s eyes out that she popped vessels in her eyeballs.

If she misbehaved, the girl was forced to stand barefoot in a corner with drywall screws under her feet, she claimed.”

Police: Mother tried to sew girl’s mouth shut, forced her to eat cat litter and beat her[AOL 10/09/14 by Ryan Gorman]

“Police said the girl, who was adopted by Cooper and her husband in 2008, soiled herself and would not drink for days”

“State police were first notified of the alleged child abuse in late May by Washington County Children and Youth Services. The agency was investigating an alleged assault at the girl’s school.

 

The girl told police she was allowed to eat only once a day and could not eat until everyone else in the family was done. ”

“Other alleged abuse reportedly endured by the girl included being forced to stand in the corner with drywall screws under her feet”

“Cooper is charged with endangering the welfare of children, simple assault and reckless endangerment. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled before Havelka.”

Cross Creek mother charged with horrific assault of adopted daughter[Observer-Reporter 10/08/14 by Kathie Warco]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:“A mother-of-eight has been ordered to appear in court on charges that she forced her adoptive daughter to eat cat litter and attempted to sew the girl’s mouth shut.

As Rana Cooper, 46, left court in Washington County, Pennsylvania following the preliminary hearing on Thursday and told reporters: ‘I am a good mother, a very good mother.’

Immediately after the hearing, her 51-year-old husband, Richard Cooper, was arraigned on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child after he allegedly failed to stop the abuse.

The 16-year-old girl, who was adopted by the couple when she was 10, explained that she was abused because the woman considered her ’embarrassing to the family’, which has seven son

‘She scooped cat litter with a scooper and shoved it in my mouth while holding my throat,’ the girl claimed in the court, WPXI reported.

As the court was shown images of wounds to the girl’s arms and legs, she described other alleged abuse, the channel reported.

‘Any time mom was yelling or choking me or punishing me, the dog would bite me and latch ahold of my arm and tear into my skin,’ she said. I have scars and a big hole in my leg because of it.’

Prosecutors said that Cooper forced her daughter to earn points to eat, drink and use the bathroom, and that she once attempted to sew her mouth shut with a needle and thread but stopped after piercing her bottom lip.

The girl added that her father threatened to leave because Cooper wouldn’t stop hurting the girl.

‘My mom was mad and bit my nose, twisting my neck and dragged me across the room,’ she said.

Rana Cooper, from Avella, received bail of $100,000.

‘I don’t think this child understood how horrific these things were,’ Traci McDonald, an assistant Washington County district attorney, said, the Observer-Reporter reported. ‘She thought it was discipline.’

As she left court, she told reporters that she was a ‘very good mother’ and the only time she held her child’s head under water – as the teenager has claimed – was to wash her hair.

The alleged treatment came to light in May while child welfare authorities in Washington County were investigating an alleged assault at the girl’s school.

State police Cpl. Robert Copechil said he interviewed officials at the girl’s school and was able to verify her story through a guidance counselor’s notes and concerns a teacher had noted.

 

Cooper was charged with assault, child endangerment and reckless endangerment.

Police reports have detailed even more sickening incidents, including how she allegedly forced the teenage girl to scrape the inside of a toilet and eat what was on her finger.

In other incidents, she allegedly sat on the child for minutes at a time, force fed her until she vomited, made her eat half a tube of toothpaste and jammed a Q-tip into her ear causing partial loss of hearing.

According to the girl, Cooper bit her nose until it bled, hit her in the face with a metal belt buckle and forced her to stand in the corner on drywall screws.

The mother also allegedly threatened to gouge the teen’s eyes out and slice off her tongue.

‘If it was time to eat and no one else was around, mother would allow child to eat and would make the child shovel food quickly into her mouth,’ wrote state police Cpl. Robert Copechil.

‘Mother would then make the child tell mother that she was eating one of her brothers.’

Rana Cooper gave police a written statement last month in which she admitted to holding her daughter’s head under water for three to 10 seconds, police said.

However, Cooper’s 24-year-old son, Ronnie, has come to his mother’s defense insisting that the allegations of abuse against her were false.

‘Nothing, none of that happened,’ Ronnie Cooper told KDKA. ‘None of these are true.’

The girl has since been removed from the home and put in the care of an older brother and another caretaker.

Washington County Children and Youth Services have removed all of the other children under 18 from the home. ”

Mother, 46, who ‘forced adoptive daughter, 16, to eat cat litter and tried to sew her mouth shut’ appears in court as her husband is charged ‘for allowing the abuse’
 [Daily Mail 11/7/14 by Associated Press]

Update 2: A search of Pennsylvania’s court case records shows that a court date has been set for 10/16/15.

Update 3/July 27,2016:A search of Pennsylvania’s court case records shows that she pled guilty to” 1 / Endangering Welfare of Children – Parent/Guardian/Other Commits Offense Held for Court (Lower Court),2 / Simple Assault Held for Court (Lower Court)and 3 / Recklessly Endangering Another Person ” on 4/27/16. She got probation for counts 2 and 3 and sentenced to 8 to 16 months for count 1.