DAYTON, Ohio (Court TV) — An Ohio judge had no mercy for a mother who pleaded guilty to endangering her own children after a video showed them being abused.
Heather Pippen appears at sentencing on Sept. 25, 2026. (Court TV)
Heather Pippen, 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering children by corporal punishment, strangulation and obstructing official business. While prosecutors commended her for taking responsibility by pleading guilty, they urged Judge E. Gerald Parker to sentence her to prison, despite the defense’s recommendation of probation.
Police were first called to Pippen’s home in April after a video circulating on Facebook appeared to show a man abusing a child in her home. Pippen, who was responsible for caring for seven children — five of her own and two of her sister’s — said she allowed her romantic partner, Stephanas Golden, to help her discipline and parent them.
When investigators interviewed the children in the house, they reported that they were constantly beaten with a paddle, belt or extension cord. The child who was seen in the video online, identified in court records as “V.R.,” said that she was regularly hit with a “whooping stick,” which she said was made of “several pieces of Hot Wheels race car track that had been duct-taped together.” V.R. said she was being hit in the video because she was having a meltdown, and described a previous incident in which Pippen had choked her “while Golden sat on top of her and covered her mouth.”
Referring to the video, Parker said it was “the worst six minutes I’ve seen,” and was shocked when Pippen said she had never seen it. “If you want to sit and watch six minutes of torture, we can do that,” Parker said.
Pippen’s attorney, Christopher Fogt, said his client was remorseful for what had happened. “Pippen was a good mother,” Fogt said in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court, saying that his client merely “lost control of her household.” Fogt described Pippen as “sincerely remorseful. … Ms. Pippen accepts that even though she was not involved in much of the abuse of the children and did not know the extent of the abuse, her inattention and lack of control created the environment in which the children were abused. Ms. Pippen will never overcome the pain of what she did to her children and her sister’s children.”
Parker wasn’t moved by Fogt’s statements to the court, saying that the video clearly showed Pippen was aware of the abuse. “You were there,” he said, addressing the defendant. “I watched you. I heard you.”
One of the things he heard, Parker said, was the defendant telling her daughter, as she was being beaten, “Oh well, girl. Bye.” Parker tossed those exact words back at the defendant as he sentenced her to consecutive five-year prison sentences.
