Mom pleads guilty to child abuse

KINGMAN, Ariz. -- A Bullhead City woman whose then-3-year-old son was spotted by a shopper in a near lifeless condition in a northern Arizona Wal-Mart pleaded guilty to child abuse Wednesday.

As she entered the plea in Mohave County Superior Court, Mitzie Hadsall, 25, admitted beating her son and allowing her roommates to abuse the boy.

On his last day on the bench, Judge Bob Moon indicated his disgust after the prosecutor described in vivid detail a pattern of abuse that included deliberate medical neglect, malnourishment, dehydration and frequent confinement of the boy in a bedroom closet.

"Were you doing meth or what was going on?" Moon asked Hadsall.

She answered that there was no illegal drug use within the home.

"So it was just meanness?" Moon further queried the defendant.

"I don't have an answer for that," Hadsall said.

"So you were all just a bunch of (expletives)," Moon said.

A shopper spotted the badly bruised boy in a shopping cart at the Wal-Mart in September. He was rushed to the hospital.

"They thought he was wearing a Halloween mask because his face was so covered in bruises of various stages," Mohave County Deputy Attorney Megan McCoy told Moon.

The boy, who recently had his fourth birthday, is now under foster care.

Under the plea agreement, Hadsall would be eligible for probation. But the agreement would allow a prison term of up to 121/2 years.

Moon told Hadsall that his successor, incoming Superior Court Judge Rick Williams, will likely impose a prison term.

"You have an uphill battle," Moon said. "You're going to have to make an awesome impression on Judge Williams to have any chance at probation."

A presentencing hearing is scheduled Jan. 29.

Hadsall's roommates, Eleanor Hawes, 50, and Austin Hildebrand, 23, have both been charged with child abuse.

Hawes could take a plea agreement Jan. 27 and defense counsel is seeking a mental health evaluation for Hildebrand.