A Switz City woman was arrested for allegedly battering a family member on two different days last week, once in the presence of her own child who was reported to be upset about the altercation.

Chelsey Brooke Ferree, 31, Switz City, was arrested by Deputy James Carpenter of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department last Tuesday afternoon, January 18.

When she appeared in Greene Superior Court last Thursday for her initial hearing via two-way video connection between the jail and the courtroom, a public defender was appointed to represent her.

She has been charged with:

Domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor, and
Domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years old, a Level 6 felony.

Deputy Carpenter responded around 11:38 a.m. on Tuesday, January 18, to a residence in Switz City when Greene County Dispatch got a 911 call from the residence and the line was left open and the only thing dispatch could hear was two women screaming.

Immediately after the dispatch, Investigator Julie Criger of the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office was on the radio saying she had just left the residence with personnel from the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS). Investigator Criger said she would turn around and be enroute back to the residence.

While Deputy Carpenter was on the way, Criger arrived at the residence and Dispatch advised the line at the residence was still open and they could hear Investigator Criger in the background and she was secure. Investigator Criger advised there had been a physical domestic altercation at the residence.

When Deputy Carpenter arrived, he talked to the woman who resides at the home who said three days earlier she had let her daughter, Chelsey Ferree, come to stay at her home. The woman said she felt sorry for Ferree’s son who would not otherwise have a place to stay. But on the evening of Monday, January 17, there had been a physical domestic between Ferree and the woman.

According to Deputy Carpenter, the woman said Ferree came into her bedroom and asked for her jeans back. She said she didn’t have Ferree’s jeans but Ferree then grabbed her hair and started punching her in the back of the head. She said her son and her husband separated the two to stop the altercation.

Then on Tuesday morning, there was another physical altercation. The woman allegedly told Ferree to get her stuff and get out of the home. When she started moving some of Ferree’s things, Ferree got mad, grabbed her hair again and started hitting her in the head. The woman tried to pull Ferree’s hair but the two fell to the ground.

The son and husband who were there confirmed the altercations, that they had broken them up, and said they both took off work on Tuesday, January 18, because they knew there would be a fight. One of them said Ferree had an apartment and he wasn’t sure why she was not staying there.

Ferree allegedly confirmed the first fight was over a pair of jeans and she claimed her mother hit her first.

One of the witnesses said the child who was present in the home when the altercations took place was upset. When Deputy Carpenter talked to the child, he said he did see the fight but he didn’t want to talk about it. DCS was contacted about the situation.

Ferree was booked into jail at 1:05 p.m. with bond set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. She did not immediately post bond but sometime after her court hearing, she did and she’s been released.

A protective order was issued ordering her to have no contact with the alleged victim.