Stepmom Jailed After Allegedly Leaving Kids Barefoot, Coat-Less Outside in Cold and Snow

A West Des Moines woman has been charged with two counts of child endangerment for allegedly locking her young stepchildren out of the house with no shoes or coats on Friday evening.

Assistant Dallas County Attorney Chuck Sinnard told authorities to file the charges after hearing about the incident, which occurred during 27-degree temperatures that felt like 20 degrees with the windchill taken into consideration, according to West Des Moines Police Officer Ben Woods’ report.

At the time, there were still several inches of snow remaining on the ground from the December blizzard.

One of the girls, ages 10 and 7, called their father after their stepmother, Beverly Jean Copeman, 47, reportedly “ran them out of the house,” Woods reported. Their dad had gone to pick up pizza and had been gone for about 10 minutes when he received the call from his daughter.

When Woods arrived at the scene, both shoeless, coatless girls were in their father’s vehicle warming up.

Woods reported that when he asked Copeman how the girls came to be outside without appropriate winter clothing, she reportedly called their allegation that she had “kicked them out” of the house “ridiculous”  and said “it’s typical for them to follow their father wherever he goes.”

When Woods asked her why she didn’t try to stop them from leaving the house without their shoes or coats, Copeman reportedly had no answer.

According to Woods’ report, the older girl said that when their dad left to pick up the pizza, she and her sister tried to secure themselves in his bedroom by tying a belt around the door handles. She said that as soon as their father left, their stepmother “started yelling at them, telling them to get out of the house” and they were scared and ran away, according to Woods’ report.