Minnesota Father Gets 30 Months In Prison For Repeatedly Abusing Infant Daughter

It was a little more than a year ago that Inquisitr first reported on the horrifying case of Shawn Michael Foltz from Minnesota. For those who are unfamiliar with this case, Foltz was arrested for repeatedly abusing his daughter “because he was bothered by her crying.”

WDAY reports Foltz received a sentence of 30 months earlier this week. According to Daily Mail, Foltz will get credit for the 429 days he has already spent behind bars. Required to spend at least 20 months of his sentence in jail, he is eligible to spend the last 10 months on released supervision.

According to court documents, Shawn repeatedly abused his 2-month-old daughter between April 10, 2017, and May 30, 2017. On that final date of the infant’s abuse, her mother took her to the Essentia Health emergency room where medical staff discovered red marks all over her back, dark bruises around her eyes, and other bruising scattered over her body. At the time, the mother explained to the police that her daughter had been in the care of her father while she was working.

During his proceedings, Foltz admitted to spending time at work thinking about new and different ways to torture his daughter. Moreover, he also admitted to targeting his daughter because he knew she was too young to alert anyone or seek any help.

Foltz’ string of abuse included rubbing hot sauce and cayenne pepper in his daughter’s eyes, nose, and mouth. He also admitted to throwing fireworks at her face and blocking her airway until she turned blue.

The father even told police he would snap his daughter in the face with a wet towel and use a wooden spoon and piece of vinyl flooring to strike her from behind.

Initially, Shawn placed the blame for the injuries on her 3-year-old brother. He later admitted that placing the blame on his son’s shoulders was done out of fear of his wife leaving him if she found out he was abusing their baby.

“There’s no sentence that can undo the damage inflicted on your daughter,” Judge Gustafson said to Belinda Bailer – Shawn’s ex-wife – during the hearing.

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In addition to feeling blindsided by the fact that she didn’t know her husband at all, Belinda is now struggling financially. She is paying all their bills with half the income she had previously had and they lost their home. Belinda, however, is grateful her daughter is happy, healthy, and active after what her father did to her. But, she dreads thinking about the future conversations she will have with her daughter when she ages and questions where her father is.

Judge Gustafson also ordered Shawn to pay $6,000 in restitution fines for his crime.