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'They sent her right back': Man who filmed grandmother's abuse says case was mishandled

4 years 2 months 4 days ago Wednesday, January 22 2020 Jan 22, 2020 January 22, 2020 11:00 PM January 22, 2020 in Crime
Source: WBRZ

UPDATE: Morgan pleaded not guilty Monday and was ordered by a judge to stay away from her mother. See the full update here: http://www.wbrz.com/news/woman-in-viral-abuse-case-ordered-to-stay-away-from-elderly-mother-gets-150k-bond

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BATON ROUGE - A woman accused of beating her 93-year-old mother with a belt is back in jail just a day after video of the alleged abuse went viral on social media.

The video shared by the victim's grandson appears to show Lottie Morgan repeatedly lashing the elderly woman with a belt while shouting obscenities at her. Morgan's son called BRPD and showed them video of the abuse Jan. 12, leading to her arrest for cruelty to the infirmed. 

After Morgan was released on bond, her son posted the video on Twitter where it was shared tens of thousands of times.

Lenny Morgan, who shared the video online, says he wasn't satisfied with how law enforcement initially handled the case. 

"As soon as this monster got out of prison... They sent her right back to my grandmother's house," Lenny said of his mother, Lottie. "I feel like our local law enforcement has failed us... and also I feel like our local court system has failed my grandmother as a citizen."

Amid the outrage online, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore upgraded her charges to aggravated second-degree battery. With her new charge, a bond hearing was held Friday. There it was decided Morgan would be taken back into custody and held in jail without bond until her next hearing on Monday.

Lottie Morgan's attorney, Dele Adebamiji, told reporters Friday that his client was "not the kind of devil everybody is making her out to be." He went on to to say Morgan suffers from PTSD and is on a variety of medications.

Lenny says it was the first time he's seen his mother's abuse taken this far. 

"It happened before but not with a belt. That was the first time I'd ever physically seen my grandmother being struck with any type of ******* object. And that **** is unacceptable."

The district attorney also said Thursday that his office filed a motion to increase Morgan's bond, which may include a protective order.

"I believe that what's appropriate is that there be a stay-away order," DA Hillar Moore said. "We would request, and the judge would order, that this defendant have no contact whatsoever with the victim, her mother, until this matter is resolved."

Morgan will remain in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison until her next court appearance, Monday.


 
  

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