Middletown (Pa.) Police Department

A Pennsylvania woman was arrested after allegedly assaulting her daughter and kicking the girl out of the house because the child could not recite Bible verses correctly.


According to Penn Live, Rhonda Kemp Shoffner, 41, of Middletown, is facing charges of child endangerment, strangulation aggravated assault against a child and terrorist threats related to the March 14 incident. The victim, who is younger than 13, told police that the attack began after she woke up from a nap around 3 p.m. The victim said that Shoffner had been drunk for three days and at that point had ordered the daughter to call several family members. When none of the relatives answered the calls, Shoffner ordered the girl to get on her knees in the bathroom, police say.

At that point, police say, the victim began to plead with her mother.

“Please don’t hit me. I don’t want to get on my knees,” the victim reportedly told her mother.


Shoffner became aggressive, yelling at the victim to “get on her [expletive] knees.”

When the child obeyed, Shoffner began questioning her on the Bible.

“What did God tell the man to do with his son?” Shoffner quizzed.

When the girl said she didn’t know, Shoffner said, “God told the man to kill his son.”

But the victim instead said, “God said to forgive his son,” and Shoffner allegedly grabbed her by her hair and slammed her head into the wall.

Police say that each time the girl got a question wrong or incorrectly recited a verse, Shoffner slammed the child’s head into the bathroom drywall, doing so at least five times in total.


The victim reportedly tried to use her hands to protect herself, but Shoffner allegedly kicked her, connecting at least twice. The girl kept on pleading with her mother to stop, but Shoffner ordered to girl to lie on her back.

“I’m going to kill you [expletive],” Shoffner said, according to police. Shoffner then reportedly began to choke her daughter.


When the girl started to fight back, Shoffner bit into her forearm and then her left shoulder, police say.

Eventually Shoffner said, “Just leave and don’t ever come back.”

The girl left, taking a phone, a coat and shoes, and ran out into the street. The child reportedly called her father, who took her to the police station.


Read more at Penn Live.