BEDFORD – Scott A. Blattert Jr. is currently facing felony charges of strangulation, aggravated battery, and domestic battery causing injury to a person under 14, after a 2019 investigation conducted by Indiana State Police and the Indiana Department of Child Services found that he had punched, elbowed and strangled his children as a form of punishment.
In November 2019, Indiana State Police began their investigation after the Indiana Department of Child service requested their assistance in a report of physical abuse of juveniles living in a home on Armstrong Station Road in Springville.
Police say Scott Blattert Jr and Cherry Blattert are the parents of 9 children. Interviews were conducted, then a search warrant was obtained and executed at the residence on Armstrong Station Road on November 1, 2019.
A Lawrence County Superior Court I probable cause affidavit indicates investigators were shown a videotape of Scott Blattert hitting one of the couple’s girls with a belt approximately 25 times. That video was just one of the pieces of evidence obtained by investigators. The girl appears to be facing Blattert as he delivered blows to the left side of her body from the shoulder down. The affidavit does not indicate who recorded the video.
According to the affidavit, the video also shows Scott Blattert punching the child in the face and pushing her to the ground. He then elbow strikes the back of the child’s head. Two toddlers can be seen entering the room and Cherry enters to try and remove them. The incident is believed to have taken place in September 2019.
Following Scott Blattert’s arrest, the eldest child, who is 15, was interviewed at a child advocacy center in Bloomington. She told investigators that her parents discipline the children with industrial-grade glue sticks which are used in glue guns. She said the sticks were hidden on top of the fireplace mantle and when the family expected a visit from the Department of Child Services (DCS), the glue sticks were hidden in Scott and Cherry’s bedroom. Scott had determined after experimenting with wooden spoons and dowel rods that glue sticks caused the most pain and left the least amount of markings.
The eldest child said Scott and Cherry told the children that DCS works against religious people. The family recently moved from one home to another because a DCS worker lived nearby, the affidavit said.
According to investigators, the children were homeschooled, and Cherry handles the discipline of “minor accidents or behavior issues” by striking the children with glue sticks. Cherry keeps a list of the issues and gives it to Scott when he gets home from work, and Scott then hits the children with the glue sticks or a belt, the affidavit said.
Scott slammed the children against the wall because they were not behaving during “Cherry’s religious speech,” and he choked one of the children until she couldn’t breathe, the affidavit detailed.
Cherry reportedly would photograph the children’s injuries and markings with a camera she kept in the couple’s bedroom, where the children were not allowed to go, according to the affidavit. The only phone in the home was in the bedroom, as well.
The affidavit said the couple warned the children not to speak with DCS about the abuse “because it will ruin the whole family.” During one DCS visit, one of the children told the investigator “a little too much information” and Scott got his belt to “deal with it,” and he struck two of the children repeatedly as he yelled that they were going to “ruin the whole family,” the affidavit said.
One child kept a diary of the abuse and hid it inside her mattress, the affidavit said.
Blattert was arrested and posted a $5,000 cash bond and was released from jail on November 8, 2019. A no-contact order with his children was issued by Lawrence County Superior Court I Judge John Plummer III.
Cherry Blattert is facing a felony charge of neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury and a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery. She posted a $2,000 cash bond and was released from the Lawrence County Jail on November 26, 2019. Judge Plummer also issued a no-contact order with her children.
Blattert appeared in Lawrence County Superior Court I, Monday afternoon after his attorney filed a motion to dismiss and a notice of an alibi defense.
However, after hearing arguments Judge John Plummer III, denied Blattert’s motions.
A final pretrial conference and a plea agreement deadline are scheduled for January 31, 2023. A jury trial is scheduled for February 21, 2023.
An Indiana appeals court struck down Bkattert’s appeal of a Lawrence County Court ruling that stated he could not use the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a legal defense against criminal charges of child abuse.
Blattert argued in court that the Bible provides him with religious instruction “the rod of correction” on the physical punishment of one’s child and said it was clearly outlined in the Bible. Proverbs 22:15 and 23:13-14 were the verses cited in Blattert’s appeal brief to support this claim. However, Judge Plummer denied Blatter’s defense ruling it was not a legal defense, and the Indiana Court of Appeals of Indiana agreed.
Proverbs 22:15 American Standard Version (ASV) “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.”
Proverbs 23:13-14 American Standard Version (ASV) “Do not withhold discipline from a child; Though you strike him with the rod, he will not die.14 You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol.”
Cherry Blattert was also scheduled to appear in court on Monday, but her attorney was granted a continuance. Her jury trial is scheduled for May 17, 2023.
