Portland-area mom gets 30 days for waterboarding baby, putting him in freezer as 'test' for dad

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Sharday McDonald, 30, pleaded guilty to charges criminal mistreatment, ID theft, and tampering with a witness after police showed up to her Gresham, Oregon, apartment on Oct. 28, 2021, to perform a welfare check because someone reported the mother pu

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A mother was sentenced to 30 days in jail after Oregon prosecutors say she waterboarded her baby and put him in the freezer during a 2021 incident as a test to see if the father cared.

Sharday McDonald, 30, pleaded guilty to charges of criminal mistreatment, ID theft, and tampering with a witness after police showed up at her Gresham, Oregon, apartment on Oct. 28, 2021, to perform a welfare check because someone reported the mother putting her baby in the freezer.

When the police officer was outside McDonald's apartment, the mother could be heard yelling at Kendrick Neal, the father of the child, "I'm about to show you real quick. You don't want him? ... "Let me show you about this little f----ng baby, I don't f----ng give f--k about," a probable cause affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital states.

According to WPDE, the woman was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Tuesday. Records from the Multnomah County Detention Center indicate McDonald will be released on Oct. 6. She pleaded guilty to the charges on July 28.

When McDonald opened the door, McDonald was seen holding the child in a wrapped blanket, prosecutors said.

McDonald allegedly explained to the officer that she wasn't trying to harm, hurt, or kill her son by drowning him or putting him in the freezer. There were also pictures of McDonald waterboarding the child.

According to the officer, the pictures show McDonald holding the baby "by his onesie" and waterboarding him.

"It looked like [the baby] was trying to hold his breath while water was pouring over his face…," the officer said of the pictures.

In one picture seen by the officer prior to the arrest, McDonald "was holding [the baby] by the onesie but at a downward angel, where his hip, legs and feet were higher than his head (almost upside down) with water running over hi.s face. The only place the water could go (in that picture) was in his nose (at that angle)."

While the officer was taking McDonald to jail, she said that her actions were done as a "test" to see if Neal "gave a f--k at all," adding she waterboarded her baby to try and make Neal come back to her apartment. She allegedly admitted her actions were done "out of spite."

A doctor who spoke with prosecutors said the child was likely unable to breathe, adding the incident could have had life-threatening consequences.

Crime and Public Safety Oregon