Daniel Schergen

Introduction

Daniel Schergen, 34, of LaPorte, Indiana, is charged in La Porte Circuit Court with a Level 6 felony count of domestic battery — domestic battery against a person less than 14 years old — for allegedly trying to force a bar of soap into the mouth of a seven-year-old family member who had cursed at him . Court records show he was arrested on a warrant October 23, 2026, and spent five days in the LaPorte County Jail before posting $750 bond . The charged conduct dates to August 29 and surfaced publicly only after the Indiana Department of Child Services reported suspected physical abuse to LaPorte County police the following month . If convicted, he faces between six and thirty months in prison .

Background Information

Schergen is a LaPorte man whose case grew out of an ordinary family car ride on August 29, 2026, when he and his girlfriend were traveling in an SUV with the seven-year-old boy and three other children . After one of the children was dropped off at football practice, the boy used profanity toward Schergen that a witness in the vehicle described as a “really bad” word . County detectives became involved on September 8, after LaPorte County police received a report of alleged physical abuse against the child from the Indiana Department of Child Services . The investigation that followed documented not just the August incident but what police describe as a repeated discipline practice, finding Schergen had forced soap into the child’s mouth on at least one previous occasion .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not tried.

According to charging documents, Schergen allegedly reacted to the boy’s profanity by pulling the SUV into a convenience store in Kingsbury and directing his girlfriend to go inside and buy a bar of soap . The New York Post, citing an affidavit reviewed by People, identifies the store as a Dollar General and reports the word the boy used was “motherf—er” . When his girlfriend returned to the vehicle, Schergen allegedly grabbed the soap and, while holding the boy’s head down against the back of a car seat, tried to force the bar into his mouth . The child kept his mouth closed through the struggle, and Schergen allegedly struck him once on the forehead, leaving a small, oval-shaped mark that bled . The boy fought back, hitting and kicking Schergen several times, and was left crying and screaming; his girlfriend then went back into the store to buy alcohol wipes and bandages to clean and cover the wound . The Post’s account of the affidavit adds that the child had a bruise on his right ear and redness on the right side of his face, that his girlfriend supplied first aid when the bleeding started, and that Schergen told investigators he was unsure how the ear bruise happened, attributing the redness to holding the boy’s head against the car seat . Photographs taken by the boy’s mother allegedly show redness on his forehead and a bruise on his face after the August incident, images later provided to child-welfare authorities .

Public Reaction and Consequences

LaPorte County Prosecutor Sean Fagan, whose office brought the charge, told WSBT that Indiana law allows parents to discipline their children but that the right has limits: “When you’re dealing with these kind of cases, you’re always having to ask yourself how much is too much when it comes to the discipline of a child or a minor” . Schergen’s defense to investigators was that the boy had problems controlling his temper and had been suspended from school for hitting other children, and that he had been moving away from traditional punishments such as spanking toward timeouts and talking through problems, though he acknowledged those methods were not always effective . Police say Schergen’s relationship to the child was not disclosed, and attorney information for him was not immediately available . No public statement from Schergen about the charge appears in the coverage .

Current Status

Schergen was arrested on a warrant October 23, 2026, and released from the LaPorte County Jail five days later, on October 28, after posting $750 bond . He is charged with a Level 6 felony, the lowest felony tier in Indiana, carrying a sentence of six to thirty months if convicted . Court records show he is due back in court on January 6, 2027 . The charge is an allegation, not a conviction, and the case is pending in La Porte Circuit Court .

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case documents a discipline practice that escalated rather than a single lapse: investigators concluded Schergen had washed the child’s mouth out with soap on at least one prior occasion, and the referral came not from the family car ride itself but from the Indiana Department of Child Services flagging suspected physical abuse . A generation after the soap-and-mouth-washing punishment faded from accepted parenting, the charge marks where prosecutors now draw the line between discipline and battery — a question Prosecutor Fagan framed as “how much is too much” . Until the January 6 hearing, Schergen remains out on bond with a pending Level 6 felony that could carry up to two and a half years in prison .

Sources

• NY Post, “Indiana man arrested for trying to wash child’s mouth out with soap after kid cursed at him”, November 4, 2026 — source
• WSBT 22 (Stan Maddux), “Man faces charges after allegedly trying to force soap into child’s mouth”, November 3, 2026 — source
• Law&Crime (Chris Perez), “Man arrested for shoving bar of soap into little boy’s mouth over ‘really bad’ word: Cops”, November 1, 2026 — source
• Hometown News Now (Stan Maddux), “Use of Soap to Discipline Child Leads to Charges”, October 29, 2026 — source