Woman sentenced for using shock collar on daughter

EPHRATA — A Ephrata woman was sentenced for using a dog shock collar on her daughter as a form of punishment.

Shyvonne Gee, 28, of Ephrata, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to third-degree child assault. Gee received a 30-day jail sentence, with 15 days converted to 120 hours of community service.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office was first made aware of a possible assault involving Gee in August after a woman told police her significant other’s 9-year-old daughter told her about a punishment she endured while she was at her mother’s, Gee’s, house near Ephrata.

The girl said after she got into trouble Gee’s boyfriend strapped a shock collar to her upper thigh and she was told to run toward the outer perimeter of the yard so she could be shocked. The girl gave a similar statement to a deputy and a Child Protective Services worker during an interview. The girl described having “little to no control” following the shock from the collar. The investigating deputy said the victim described “knowing” it was wrong to be shocked for punishment.

“At no time did (the victim) describe the incident as rough housing, playful or as a joke. She made it very clear and evident this was without question an assault and form of punishment,” wrote the deputy.

Gee admitted to strapping the shock collar to her daughter’s thigh and forcing her to run the electronic perimeter boundary of their yard until the device shocked the girl. Gee said the victim fell to the ground and way crying, but she, Gee, said didn’t think the shock “actually hurt.”

“I expressed my deepest concerns and advised Shyvonne this was not only cruel and unusual punishment for anyone to have to bear, let alone a nine-year-old child,” wrote the deputy. “I summed up my thoughts with Shyvonne by stating I believed the assault to be that of torture rather than a standard spank or other form of discipline.”

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.