Eagan Couple Charged with Child Neglect, Endangerment

An Eagan couple has been charged with child neglect and child endangerment after police say they had a physical altercation last April in front of two children, ages 10 and 15.

Lisa Marie Serrano, 33, and Dominique Cello Serrano, 37, are charged with two gross misdemeanors, each of which carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaints, a 15-year-old boy called Eagan police on April 10 and reported that he and his 10-year-old cousin had left the Serranos’ home on Hickory Hill sometime after 3 a.m. to escape the fight.

The boy told police that Dominique Serrano grabbed a knife from a kitchen drawer and tried to give it to his cousin, telling him, “Go ahead and stab me,” according to the complaints.

When the child refused to take the knife, Serrano put it away. Lisa Serrano reacted to the incident by biting her husband in the chest and striking him several times, the complaints say.

The argument escalated into a biting, scratching and shoving melee, the 10-year-old told police. The two boys said they didn’t feel safe in the home, so they left and walked to the home of another family member to call police.

Lisa Serrano admitted to police that she and her husband had engaged in a verbal dispute that became physical, according to the complaints. She admitted striking Dominique Serrano several times and injuring him, but she said she didn’t know the boys had left the home.

Lisa Serrano told police that she had had too much to drink that night and didn’t remember everthing, the complaints say.

Dominique Serrano had blood on his neck, forehead and chest, and a knot forming on his head, when police confronted the couple, according to the complaint.

He told police that he wasn’t concerned that the boys had left the home, because of the older boy’s age.

Lisa Serrano’s criminal history includes a conviction for disorderly conduct earlier this year. Her husband was convicted of interfering with a 911 call in 1999, disorderly conduct in 2004, obstructing the legal process in 2006, fifth-degree assault in 2006 and 2007, fourth-degree assault in 2007, violating a no-contact order in 2008 and felony domestic assault in 2008.