Child torture hearing postponed, father speaks out

by M. Dilworth

LANCASTER –A Palmdale woman accused of beating and torturing her two adopted children was in court Thursday for a hearing to decide if the case will go to trial.

But the preliminary hearing for Ingrid Brewer was postponed until February 19, and 50-year-old Brewer was ordered back to custody on $2 million bail.

Brewer’s 8-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter were found huddled in a blanket under a parked car around 1 a.m. on Jan. 16. Brewer had reported the youngsters missing from their Palmdale home about three hours earlier.

The children told deputies they ran away from home because they were tired of being tied up and beaten by Brewer. The children said Brewer locked them in separate rooms each day while she went to work, and they were forced to use their trash cans as toilets, according to sheriff’s detectives.

They also said Brewer deprived them of food, tied their hands behind their backs and beat them with electrical cords and a hammer, detectives said.

Brewer was arrested at 3 a.m. on Jan. 16 at her Palmdale home in the 39000 Block of Clear View Court.

Two days later, she pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts, including two counts of torture, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of felony battery and two counts of cruelty to a child. Brewer’s adopted children have been in protective custody since her arrest.

Thursday morning, the biological father of the 7-year-old girl said he drove from Orange County to Antelope Valley courthouse to seek justice for his daughter.

“I just feel horrible because of what Ingrid has done to my daughter,” Alan Coleman said.

Coleman said he’d spent some time in prison for drug convictions and was never able to become a permanent part of his daughter’s life. He said since his release in 2010, he’d turned his life around and was now working and enrolled at the Cooper Fellowship drug treatment center in Santa Ana. He was scheduled to complete his treatment program next month, he said.

“I drove all this way to be seen, to let the folks know that’s my daughter and I want her back. I never signed over my parental rights,” Coleman said.

Coleman said he was also seeking custody of Brewer’s adopted son, who is his daughter’s brother.

“I don’t want to separate them, because he saved her life and he made the decision to get them out of there,” Coleman said.

He said Brewer had been his daughter’s foster parent since 2009 and had adopted the child sometime after. He said he’d been permitted a few hour-long visits with Brewer and his daughter, and during those visits he didn’t notice anything wrong.

“She played it off like everything was nice,” Coleman said. “I didn’t sense something wrong until it all came to light.”

He said he hadn’t seen his daughter or Brewer since they moved to Palmdale a little under a year ago, and he was shocked when he read about the case in the media.

“I hope Ingrid gets what she deserves,” Coleman said. “I hope she never gets out.”

Coleman is seeking guidance on how to go about getting permanent custody of his daughter and her brother. He is asking anyone who is willing to assist him in this effort to contact him at 714-805-2189 or colemanderrick94@yahoo.com.

Brewer is due back in court on February 19 for her preliminary hearing.