Man tried forcing pregnant woman to miscarry during ‘three days of brutality,’ cops say

Jennifer Rodriguez
·2 min read

A Nebraska man was sentenced to decades in prison after officials say he beat and tortured a pregnant woman over a three-day period.

In March, Ian Toegan, 29, pleaded no contest to first-degree attempted murder of an unborn child, first-degree assault of a pregnant woman and assault by strangulation or suffocation, according to KLKN.

The charges stemmed from a three-day incident in October, according to the news outlet.

“This is not an isolated mental-health incident, this is not an isolated, drug-induced rage. This is three days of brutality,” Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Tyson Moodie told the Lincoln Journal Star.

According to officials, Toegan was arrested Oct. 27 after his mother went to authorities with concerns that he was “out of control” and might kill a woman, the outlet reported.

When officers went to the home, they found a 27-year-old pregnant woman inside, KOLN reported. The woman, 35 weeks pregnant, told police that Toegan had been abusing her for three days. When officers checked the woman, they found her covered in bruises, the outlet reported.

Toegan also repeatedly strangled the woman “to the point she was almost dead,” the outlet reported.

The woman told police that Toegan pointed a fan at her while he made her take a cold shower, and he forced her to jump off an ice chest in order to try and make her miscarry, KLKN reported. She said he withheld food from her, and during those three days she only ate “possibly” some Kit Kat bars and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The woman was taken to a hospital where an emergency cesarean section was done. The baby survived, but has since suffered health complications, similar to shaken-baby syndrome, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

“What happened to (the victim) and her daughter should never have happened and certainly did not deserve to happen,” Deputy Lancaster County Public Defender James Sieben said, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. “It is an understatement to say Mr. Toegan regrets his actions.”

McClatchy News reached out to Sieben but he declined to comment on the case.

Toegan was sentenced to 41 to 50 years in prison, KOLN reported.

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