Mother arrested for beating daughter

A Carson City mother is facing child abuse charges after she allegedly beat her 6-year-old daughter with a belt.

Ana Cruz, 42, was booked Tuesday into the Carson City Jail on suspicion of gross misdemeanor child abuse. Cruz posted $2,500 bail the same day and was released, jail records indicate.

According to the arrest report, school officials contacted the Division of Child and Family Services on Tuesday after Cruz's daughter was found to have eight welts on her back, shoulder and hand. One of the welts was allegedly about 12 inches long and shaped like the outline of a belt.

The girl told an investigator her mother struck her with a black belt when she came home with a watch she got from a friend at school.

She also told investigators she gets hit with a belt, shoe or hand by both her parents.

Detective Dena Lacy went to Cruz's home and arrested her at 2:40 p.m., retrieving the belt as evidence.

According to the arrest report, with her husband acting as interpreter, Cruz allegedly said she became angry when she believed her daughter to be lying about the origin of the watch.

"(Cruz) said she was very upset and she was up crying all night about what she had done. She felt very bad for hitting her daughter the way she did," Lacy wrote in the report.

The child was removed from the home.