Brown County

District Court

• Abel Lee Vasquez, 27, New Ulm, was charged July 2 with felony malicious punishment of a child and two counts of gross misdemeanor domestic assault. A first appearance Zoom hearing was set for 10 a.m. July 17.

According to court documents, on April 18, New Ulm Police Senior Investigator Chris Moellenhoff learned of a report involving an 8-year-old being allegedly physically assaulted by his father. The child talked about an April 14 incident at the family residence in which the child was laying on the couch, a sibling wanted to sit on the couch too, but the alleged victim wouldn’t move over.

The child said Vasquez got mad and grabbed him by the back of the neck, threw him on the floor and kicked him in the chest. The child said he couldn’t breathe after being kicked and that Vasquez told him to “shut up, he was fine.”

Brown County Human Services Child Protection staff, officer Greg Miller and Investigator Moellenhoff met with the family. Vasquez admitted he grabbed the child by the back of the neck but said the child was falling so he stuck his leg out to break the child’s fall. Vasquez said the children were acting out due to their vacation ending.

Vasquez was convicted of malicious punishment of a child in Brown County Court Feb. 27, 2023.