BROWN COUNTY — Charges were filed Monday in Brown County District Court against an Evan couple for allegedly locking children in their bedrooms, causing self-inflicted behavior.

Daniel J. Fromm, 30; and Jessica M. Fromm, 26; both of 523 Park Ave., Evan, were charged with two counts of felony child neglect-resulting in substantial physical harm; felony child endangerment-could cause harm or death; gross misdemeanor child endangerment and false imprisonment-unreasonable restraint of children.

The Fromms were summoned to appear in court at 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 28.

According to court documents, the Brown County Sheriff’s Office received a child protection summary on the victim, the Fromm’s daughter, on Jan. 28. A mandated reporter was concerned over a transverse humerus fracture in which the edges of the facture looked rather old. Daniel From, the step-father of the victim, said the fracture cause would have been from the victim banging on a door.

At about 2 p.m., law enforcement met with the family. When asked to tell about the victim’s arm, Daniel Fromm said they were struggling with her, had her on Lexapro and said they were concerned about self-inflicted behavior.

The couple said the victim’s self-inflicted behavior declined but other behavior increased like throwing toys and other items in the home and they were concerned the victim may hurt the baby. The couple said they then put her in her room and let her go until she calmed down, which seemed to be the only way to calm her down.

Daniel Fromm said the morning the broken arm happened, the victim had already been in a time out. He said when his wife came into the room when they were eating breakfast, the victim began screaming and did not want to move her arm.

The couple said they did not know how the victim was injured, but assumed it was from banging into walls in her home. Daniel Fromm said the victim runs around her room and bangs her head on the walls.

“It got to the point where it was doing nothing, so we were just like, shut the door, bang your arms, bang your head, run into the wall, do whatever you want, but we can’t sit on her all day,” Daniel Fromm said.

Law enforcement noticed the door knobs were turned around so the victim could be locked into the room and not get out. Daniel Fromm said he believed the lock kept her safe and it’s mostly for at night.

Daniel Fromm said the victim’s fits varied from five to ten minutes long, usually, but sometimes lasted as long as 30 minutes.

Jessica Fromm told investigator Reed that the victim “has fits pretty much all day” and that the victim’s psychologist told her that she would have suggested locking the victim’s door during time outs and at night if they didn’t do it already. Jessica Fromm said the child is going to bang her head no matter where she is.

Reed asked the psychologist if she was aware of the parents locking the victim in her bedroom for time outs with the lock on the outside of the door. The psychologist said she was not aware of this and there was no disclosure to her about that. She said the parents gave her the impression there was no reason to lock the door, even close the door, as the victim would just sit there on the mattress.

On Jan. 31, the victim presented to Midwest Children’s Resource Center, It was noted that the victim presented with a right humerus fracture and later was found to have a likely right distal ulnar diaphysial fracture. It was noted that two factures without a clear history was highly concerning of abusive trauma magnified by the fact that her humerus facture was displaced, angulated and showed evidence of healing.

The doctor said that the fracture would not be the result of her hitting her hands on the door. The doctor expressed concerns about the victim’s weight, noting she was currently at just the third percentile.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.