Shardra McDonald answered the door holding her child wrapped in a blanket, and "told the officer she was not trying to hurt, harm, or kill her son [redacted] by drowning him and/or putting him in the freezer," the affidavit says.
An Oregon mother will serve 30 days in the county jail after entering a guilty plea to a charge of criminal mistreatment in the first degree.
Officer Kerbs of the Gresham Police Department arrived at the home of Sharda McDonald in October 2021 to perform a welfare check after a report of a "mom putting her baby in the freezer," according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
McDonald, 30, would eventually admit to putting her infant son in the freezer and waterboarding the13-month-old baby, claim police, with the hopes that these actions would bring back the father of the baby, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit says that upon arrival, the responding officer heard part of a conversation that McDonald was having with an unknown individual.
"I’m about to show you real quick. You don’t want him?", the officer claimed to have heard, says the affidavit. "Let me show you about this little f***ing baby I don’t f***ing give a fuck about."
McDonald answered the door holding her child wrapped in a blanket, and "told the officer she was not trying to hurt, harm, or kill her son [redacted] by drowning him and/or putting him in the freezer," the affidavit says.
At some point during the welfare check, the father of the child, Kendrick Neal, arrived at the apartment and spoke with the responding officer.
The affidavit says that Neal shared what he claimed were photo grabs from a video call he had with McDonald.
One image showed McDonald "holding [redacted] by his oneie [sic] and water boarding [sic] [redacted]" said the officer. In another image, the officer said "it looked like [redacted] was trying to hold his breath while water was pouring over his face," while one image showed McDonald "holding redacted by the onesie, but at a downward angel [sic] where his hip, legs, and feet were higher than his head (almost upside down) with water running over his face. The only place the water could go (in that picture) was in his nose (at that angle)."
After seeing the images, the officer placed McDonald under arrest, according to the affidavit.
While driving to the police station, the officer said that McDonald "said she was sorry" and that she did these things to see if Neal "gave a f*** at all."
The officer also said that McDonald told him she "thought putting [redacted] under running water would make Mr. Neal come back to her residence," and that she did this "out of spite."
McDonald was ultimately charged with two counts of criminal mistreatment in the first degree and a single count of recklessly endangering another person, according to court records.
Court records show some point, prosecutors added 13 additional counts of identity theft and a count of tampering with a witness, though those alleged crimes came from an unrelated case.
McDonald then agreed to a deal that saw her enter guilty pleas to the charges of criminal mistreatment in the first degree, one count of identity theft, and tampering with a witness, according to court records.
The judge sentenced her to 30 days in the Multnomah County Detention Center for criminal mistreatment and tampering charges, and her projected release date is Oct. 6 according to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.
