Child bruises lead to charges against Medford man

EAU CLAIRE – A Medford man is facing felony charges in separate cases in which prosecutors say he beat his children.

35-year-old David Glenn is charged with a total of three counts of physical abuse of a child – intentional bodily harm and four counts of bail jumping. For each charge there is also an increase for repeat offenders.

Glenn has pleaded not guilty.

According to the criminal complaint, the first lawsuit was filed in September 2022. An 8-year-old child went to school with a bruise around his left eye, and a sibling told a school aide that it was from Glenn’s injury to the child. Earlier this month, another child was seen with a bruised forehead.

The children’s mother admitted that Glenn had beaten the children and that he had instructed them to lie about the cause of the injuries. As investigators spoke with the children, the one who had spoken to a school aide changed her story. Investigators determined that it “emerged [the child] has been trained” in what to say.

In the second case, filed in April of this year, the Wisconsin Department of Human Services contacted authorities and said a 1-year-old had been abused. A sibling said Glenn lashed out [the child’s] Hands in the washing machine while her mother was away. She said it was Glenn’s way of disciplining the child.

In another case, three witnesses told authorities that Glenn “hit.” [the child] so hard that he fell to the ground.” This incident left marks on the child’s face.

At the time, Glenn was subject to a DHS order that he was not allowed any unauthorized visits with the children outside of scheduled, supervised weekly visits. The witnesses said this was not one of those moments. The children’s mother said she was present at the events.

Glenn was defiant when investigators spoke to him, saying, “I’m so tired of being the scapegoat for all this crap.”

“Glenn then spoke about his belief that corporal punishment is not illegal in Wisconsin and said, ‘So you can paddle her.'”

Glenn denied slapping the child, despite witnesses claiming he had.

The latter case occurred at a relative’s house. Glenn blamed his wife for the apparent violation of the DHS order, saying she knew he would be at the residence and showed up with the children anyway.

Glenn is currently being held at the Dodge Correctional Facility, but Friday’s hearing docket states he will be transferred. He was convicted in Taylor County in 2022 of two counts of disclosing his genitals to a child, and also in a subsequent case in 2023 in which he was accused of failing to update his information on the state sex offender registry.

His release is scheduled for May 2026. A status conference in the cases is scheduled for Oct. 16.