A Yucca Valley woman was arrested Monday, accused of child abuse. According to the Sheriff’s Department, deputies were called to the 5300 block of Mariposa Avenue in Yucca Valley about 4:45 p.m. for a report of alleged child abuse. Deputy William Ziemer talked to two children, ages 10 and 12, and discovered they had significant bruising to their buttocks area. Ziemer learned the children’s mother, Stephanie Bender, 33, had hit the children with a wooden spoon the previous day. Ziemer and Deputy John Wilson then went to Bender’s home in the 6300 block of Goleta Avenue where they arrested Stephanie Bender for investigation of inflicting traumatic injury upon a child. Bender was booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, with her bail set at $100,000.
