The mother of an 18-month-old girl who died in the care of the woman's boyfriend was charged with child endangerment Tuesday after authorities said she knew the man had been beating the child.

Lia Pearson, 37, of Farmington, was charged in Ramsey County District Court. Her boyfriend, Leb Mike Meak, 35, of Maplewood, was charged in February with second-degree murder for allegedly beating Pearson's daughter Genesis Xiong to death.

According to a criminal complaint filed against Meak, he reportedly shook and "roughed [the girl] up" on Feb. 12 before police were called to his house in the 2500 block of Barclay Street in Maplewood and found the baby unresponsive. The complaint also indicated that the girl may have been sexually abused.

Pearson, who was charged Tuesday via summons, is scheduled to make her first court appearance on May 15.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Pearson said, "I did not know about [any] abuse because I believed everything [Meak] had said to me. When he said she hit her head on the weight set, I believed that. When he said she hit her head on the table, I believed that."

According to the complaint against Pearson:

Two of Meak's sons who lived with their father told police they heard Meak hitting the child on several occasions. His 12-year-old son said he heard "thumping sounds" coming from the bedroom and that it bothered him when he heard Genesis yell and scream as she was being hit.

Meak's 8-year-old son said his father hit Genesis "a lot," usually in his room, and he could hear "yelling and hitting and the baby crying." The boy said he and his brother had told Pearson that their father was hitting Genesis. He also said Pearson "acted worried but then told them not to tell their dad that they told her, or he and his brother might get in trouble."

The 12-year-old also said the brothers had warned Pearson about the beatings and that Genesis had visible bruises on her head and arms.

Pearson told police that she had known Meak for five years and that the two had been dating since last August. Genesis had been staying with Meak for about a month, and Meak had asked Pearson if Genesis could stay with him because "he got attached to her" and liked taking care of her.

When Pearson last saw Genesis on Feb. 1, the baby had a large bruise on her forehead. Meak told her Genesis must have injured herself on his weight set. Pearson said she put ice on the bump, but she didn't take Genesis to the doctor. She said that Genesis also developed bruising to the side of her face and two black eyes, according to the complaint.

In a later interview with police, Pearson admitted that Meak's sons had told her they thought their father was hitting Genesis and had asked, "Can you take her home, please?" She said she told the boys not to talk to their father about the issue because "she did not want the boys to get hurt."

She also told police that she rationalized that the boys told her about the hitting because they did not want Genesis to live with them.

During the phone interview Tuesday, Pearson said that she didn't believe the boys because she hadn't seen Meak being abusive to them and thought his sons could have been jealous of Genesis.

Pearson told an investigator during a Feb. 20 interview that she didn't want to hear from Meak "because I won't have anything nice to say to him." But a review of Meak's recorded jail phone conversations showed that the two had many phone conversations between Feb. 21 and April 14 and that Pearson told Meak that Genesis forgave him.

During one conversation, Pearson asked Meak where Genesis got all her bruises, and told him that the family had to have a closed casket at the girl's funeral. She also said during their exchanges that she still loved him, and that she had enlarged a photo of him to poster size to put in her room.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495

Twitter: @stribnorfleet