Woman hit 9-year-old boy on the head with frying pan after he dropped a bagel

A Randolph woman is being held on $75,000 bail on charges of whacking a 9-year-old boy on the head with a frying pan after he dropped a bagel that her dog quickly grabbed. The child was in the care of defendant Donna Ambrosio-Ruglio, 45, on Tuesday when he dropped a bagel with cream cheese on her floor and the dog began licking up the cream cheese, according to an arrest affidavit.

The boy told police that Ambrosio-Ruglio yelled at him that the cream cheese would kill the dog and then proceeded to hit him on the head with a frying pan and punch him on the back. The woman allegedly told the boy he was stupid but the abuse stopped when he left the room, according to the affidavit, prepared by county Prosecutor's Office Detective Cheryl Drinkard.



The suspect was taken to the Morris County jail upon her arrest, with bail set at $75,000 on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child. For now, she cannot have any contact with the boy. The incident was brought to the attention of police by a relative of the child. A criminal complaint says the frying pan blow left an abrasion on the boy's head and bruising was visible on his back.

The boy ''stated that he did not understand why the defendant didn't just clean up the cream cheese instead of hitting him,'' the affidavit said. ''He said that the defendant has done things like this 'over a thousand times' and he never said anything because he wanted to forget about it but this time he had to because it was the 'most serious,''' the affidavit said.