TROY – With a grand jury indictment looming, a Lincoln County Judge denied for a second time a bond reduction for a woman charged with child abuse and endangerment.

Brenda Deutsch, 70, remains in the Lincoln County jail on a $250,000 bond on the three Class D felony charges including two counts of child abuse and neglect and one count of child endangerment.

Deutsch’s recently-hired attorney, Joseph Flees, appeared alongside the defendant before Judge Michael Jacobs, requesting her bond be lowered to $50,000 with 10 percent payment required, or $5,000, for her release.

“That’s not a fair, appropriate or just amount,” Flees argued of the current bond, pointing out Deutsch, at her age and bad health, is no flight risk or a threat to society.

He also emphasized the amount of support the community has shown, mentioning the gallery of seven individuals there on her behalf.

“I’ve never had so many people reach out and say they would write a letter of support for the court,” he said.

But assistant prosecutor John Krehmeyer painted a very different picture of the defendant, alleging she’s been orchestrating from jail an attempt to impede the investigation. He told Jacobs the prosecutor’s office has taped phone calls from the jail in which Deutsch is attempting to dissuade witnesses from cooperating in the investigation and even asking a neighbor to remove surveillance cameras from her property.

“Her conduct is indicative of a person with a consciousness of guilt,” Krehmeyer stated.

He also argued against the bond reduction based on the belief Deutsch’s guilt extends far beyond one isolated incident as she had fostered more than 200 children over 20 years.

“We think this is the tip of the iceberg and is representative of systemic actions on the part of the defendant over several years,” Krehmeyer said.

He submitted a victim statement to Jacobs for consideration.

“She almost tortured them,” Krehmeyer said of the many victims identified.

Early on in the bond reduction hearing, Krehmeyer and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Dulany Harms told Jacobs that Deutsch’s case was scheduled to be heard by a grand jury for possible indictment last week.

However, that grand jury hearing would be postponed to tomorrow.

“We have 27 cases to go before the grand jury tomorrow,” Krehmeyer said. “And Ms. Deutsch’s case is one of them.”

Should the grand jury indict Deutsch Wednesday, Circuit Judge Jim Beck will set a new bond. Should they not indict her, she will be released.

With the pending grand jury hearing, Jacobs declined to change the bond, but did agree to schedule another hearing on the matter for Thursday at 9:30 a.m., in case the grand jury doesn’t take up her case.