The MARQUEZ-CHAVEZ Girls -- 5 and 3 yo - Albuquerque NM

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2011/12/28/news/police-girls-abused-lived-in-bathtub.html

Police say it was concerned family friends who led them to the rescue of two young girls they say were malnourished, abused and forced to live in a bathtub.

The girls, ages 5 and 3, are now in a foster home while the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department investigates the situation, which happened Friday, spokesman Bob Tafoya said.

The mother of the girls, Roberta Marquez-Chavez, 19, is being held on child abuse charges after being arrested this weekend when her friends reported the suspected abuse to police. The mother’s boyfriend is still being sought by police.

Police dispatchers have started a public collection of toys and clothing for the two girls, APD dispatcher Amber Bailey said Tuesday.

“The more we heard how severe the abuse was, and how they were neglected, and it being Christmas, we decided we wanted to do something to help the transition go a little easier for them,” Bailey said. “We decided as a communications center to donate whatever we could, if it was $5 or a stuffed animal or clothes.”

The public can take their donations of new or gently used clothing and toys for the girls to APD’s Shawn McWethy Memorial Substation at 6404 Los Volcanes Road NW.

Police found the girls at an apartment on 68th Street and Glenrio NW with severe injuries and malnutrition, according to a criminal complaint. The 5-year-old had a healed broken left arm, five or six healed broken ribs and a chunk of hair pulled out of her head, the complaint states. The 3-year-old had also suffered multiple broken ribs, a fractured skull and brain bleed, a burn on the foot and cut on her head.

The girls were so malnourished that they could only be fed small food portions to avoid other health complications, police said.

Marquez-Chavez, who does not have a prior criminal history, told police that her boyfriend, who she considers their stepfather, had abused the children.

Police are still looking for 28-year-old Jesus Acosta-Contreras. Marquez-Chavez told police Acosta-Contreras had injured the girls while she was at work and that she was too afraid of him to call police. Asked why she hadn’t sought medical attention for the girls, Marquez-Chavez told police she didn’t know, the complaint states.

Tafoya, of CYFD, said nobody had previously reported any abuse to the agency.

Authorities discovered the girls after two of Marquez-Chavez’s friends called police. The friends told authorities that Marquez-Chavez had shown them the girls naked and in the bathtub during a visit at her apartment. She told the women that her boyfriend refused to take care of them and forced the girls to live in the bathroom, the complaint states.

The friends noticed the girls looked as if they’d been starved and beaten.

“I think the message for the public is that anytime that individuals suspect neglect and abuse, they should make the report. Making a report of suspected abuse and neglect is anonymous and they don’t have to leave their name when they leave the report,” Tafoya said.

The girls, who were initially hospitalized, are now in a foster home, Tafoya said.

CYFD will investigate the girls’ home and make a recommendation to a judge on whether they should remain in state custody, who has final say, he said. That could take up to two weeks.

Meanwhile, Marquez-Chavez remains at Metropolitan Detention Center on a $100,000 cash or surety bond. She has been charged with two counts of child abuse resulting in death or great bodily harm, court records show.

To report child abuse, call #SAFE or 1-855-333-SAFE.