ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- An Alaska woman who went with a video of her punishing her son, 7, on the "Dr. Phil" TV show for help with the boy's behavior, is facing child abuse charges.
Jessica Beagley of Anchorage pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Friday to a misdemeanor count of child abuse, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The video aired in November on the TV show, "Mommy Confessions," shows Beagley pouring hot sauce into the child's mouth and forcing him into a cold shower, the Daily News said.
The video has outraged thousands in the United States and Russia, and Russian authorities are investigating the matter, the newspaper said.
"I wish I wasn't to this point. I don't know what to do with this child," Beagley told Phil McGraw, the therapist who is host of the TV show.
"I'm going to tell you up front, there is no theory under which that (punishment) is going to work, there is no theory under which that makes sense," McGraw said in reply.
If Beagley is found guilty, there is a good chance that the boy and his twin brother, who was also adopted by Beagley and her husband, would be returned to Russia, said Tony Astakhov, assistant to Russia's commissioner of children's Rights.
