Documents detail arrest of Blackfoot woman charged with injury to a child

BLACKFOOT — A Blackfoot mother has been charged with abusing her infant daughter after the child was removed from her care and evaluated by a doctor.

Brenwyn E. Richey, 26, is facing one felony count of injury to a child. If she is found guilty, she faces up to 10 years in prison.

According to charging documents, police responded to a domestic disturbance on Dec. 28, 2025, at an apartment complex at 900 Lansing Street in Blackfoot.

Richey had been accused of abusing her infant, and police say she admitted to responding officers that she had handled the 2-month-old child roughly a few times. This included bouncing the baby aggressively on her leg and using excessive force when placing the child in bed, charges state.

Witnesses reported similar behavior to investigators, one of whom reportedly told police Richey had shaken or jolted the infant repeatedly and that the motion lasted several minutes. Police say another witness told them Richey had yanked the infant by the leg in a separate incident, when the girl was 1 week old, and allowed the child to dangle without proper neck support.

Charging documents say, at the time, Richey allegedly told the second witness “the child was ‘not made of glass’ and asserted that ‘people do it all the time.'”

Police say further investigation found that the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare sent a letter to Richey earlier in December informing her that the agency was aware of a “substantiated incident of abuse, neglect or abandonment” involving her.

When police were called out to the apartment a second time on Dec. 29, 2025, the division of Child Protective Services consulted with the Bonneville County Attorney’s office and initiated an emergency removal of the infant from the home.

Charges say Blackfoot police were informed on Jan. 2 that an evaluation by a physician found possible internal injuries to the infant. The physician also reported that the infant’s eyes appeared abnormally “droopy” for her age, the document states.

A follow-up evaluation on Jan. 18 confirmed the infant was experiencing persistent internal swelling of an undetermined cause, police said.

Richey was arrested and formally charged with injuring the child. She is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge James Howard Barrett Jr. for a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. on April 9.

Though Richey has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.