LAPLACE — A woman was arrested in LaPlace this week in connection with an ongoing cruelty-to-a-juvenile investigation.

St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Kerrian Clofer, 26, on a judicial court ordered arrest warrant for second-degree kidnapping Thursday.

Sheriff Mike Tregre said via a release an investigation revealed Kerrian Clofer, who was arrested at a family member’s residence on Sleepy Redwood in LaPlace, purposely took a juvenile with her to Calcasieu Parish and kept the juvenile hidden.

Tregre said the investigation is ongoing and detectives will seek additional arrest warrants if the findings of the investigation warrant it.

As of press time Friday, Clofer remained in custody in lieu of a $30,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau initiated an investigation in May regarding the whereabouts and custody of an 8-year-old girl after the mother of the child reported that since the incarceration of the child’s father, Kerry Clofer, 26, in Calcasieu Parish in March of 2014, the child was in the custody of her paternal grandmother and aunt, Kerrian Clofer.

Tregre said in a release the 14th Judicial District Court of Louisiana granted Kerry Clofer sole custody of the child in August of 2013, but an appeals court vacated and remanded custody of the child in June of 2014, granting custody to the child’s mother. Her attempts to retain custody of her child from Kerrian Clofer failed, authorities said.

Tregre said detectives spoke with Kerrian Clofer, but she refused to cooperate with detectives in the investigation.

The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office reported on May 14 deputies responded to call at a local hospital concerning an 8-year-old girl having severe burns on her hands and numerous marks all over her body.

“Once detectives arrived, the child stated that Kerrian Javana Clofer … had held her hands over the open flame of a gas stove after she ate a snack without permission,” the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office’s release states.

“The victim told detectives Clofer would handcuff and tie her to the legs of a bed while Clofer slept and went to work. She told detectives she was not allowed to eat for days, and when she was allowed to eat Clofer fed her noodles with salt and pepper.”

The release also states the child told detectives Kerrian Clofer would beat her with a belt and a metal clothes hanger.

Tregre said the child’s injuries included fractured bones, burns and failure of organs due to malnutrition and starvation.