11 Children - 5 Months to 11 yo/ Suspects: Multiple adults - Dayton/ Houston TX

State removes 11 abused and neglected children from Dayton home

Updated 10:50 a.m., Tuesday, February 21, 2012



None of the children in the case attended school, according to the arrest affidavit. The house is blocks away from two Dayton ISD campuses. (Johnny Hanson/Chronicle)

Eleven children, some of whom were discovered tied up, were removed from a Dayton home last month ending what investigators believe may have been lifelong physical abuse.

Child Protective Services took custody of the youngsters, ranging in age from 5 months to 11 years, after a request to investigate conditions at a home in the 600 block of Ford.

"The children were removed due to physical abuse, physical neglect and medical neglect," said Gwen Carter, spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. All the children are currently in foster homes.

Investigators discovered restrained toddlers, sick babies, beaten-up boys, teen runaways and a caretaker with numerous CPS investigations in two states at an address that a registered sex offender listed as his residence.

Nearly two dozen people, including 10 adults, were cramped inside the 1,700-square-foot brick home about 40 miles northeast of Houston. The Liberty County residence was not licensed as a day care, residential treatment center or foster home, Carter said.

Authorities removed 5- and 8-month-old boys; a 1-year-old boy; a boy and girl, 2; a 3-year-old girl; a girl and a boy, 4; a 5-year-old girl and two older boys, 8 and 11. Most are believed to be first cousins and the grandchildren of their caretaker.

Around 2 p.m. on Jan. 24, a CPS investigator and a Dayton Police Department sergeant found eight children in a "very dark" bedroom with no working light fixture and a piece of plywood covering the window, according to a CPS affidavit in support of removal filed in the Liberty County District Court.

Both 2-year-olds were tied to their beds and a legally blind 5-year-old girl was restrained on a "filthy mattress," the document said.

Tied up 'for safety'

All 10 adults present during the investigation were interviewed.

"None of them felt like this was a problem, and stated that they tie the children up for safety," the affidavit said. The children were reportedly restrained around their chests to the bed at night and for two to three hours for naps during the day.

Both infants were transported to Texas Children's Hospital because of concerns from paramedics of "pneumonia and failure to thrive," the affidavit said. Other children's bodies had signs of abuse.

According to the affidavit, one boy had a black eye, fingerprint marks on both forearms and a knocked-out tooth. He said one of the adults choked him on occasion. That boy also said all the children were restrained while sleeping and sometimes while awake during the day.

Another child said the youngsters were kept in the room for as long as three days, according to the affidavit.

None of the children attended school, according to the affidavit. The house is blocks away from two Dayton ISD campuses.

During the visit, two teen runaways were found with a stolen car. The boys, both 16, left different Harris County foster or adoptive homes about five days prior. One said he heard from his older brother that the Liberty County home "was fun."

One of the caretaker's adult sons is a registered sex offender, the result of an offense with a minor, and lists the home as his current address. He was not present when authorities visited.

Under investigation

The case remains under investigation. No arrests or charges had been filed as of late Monday.

According to the affidavit, the caretaker lost custody of six children in Michigan in the early 1980s, in part because of sexual abuse allegations, and she was accused in 2005 of sexually abusing one of the children removed last month.

In 2009, one of the caretaker's daughters told CPS the woman "was hitting the kids" and admitted seeing bruises on a boy.

Douglas Waller said he saw nothing unusual at the home a few days before Christmas when he stopped by for a brief visit with the 4-year-old girl who he believes to be his daughter. The 33-year-old is petitioning the court for custody of the child.

"She looked all right. She looked healthy and happy," he said, but changed his mind after the girl was removed from the home.

"After reading the papers I've received from the courts, I would not trust them with an animal - much less a child," he said. "I had no idea of the stuff that was going on at the house."

Waller said he has a stable home and job, and would have sought custody before now "if I'd have known that my daughter's mother gave the grandmother permission to use restraints on my child," he said. "That is wrong and should not be done to any child - not just mine."

The first step in Waller's custody battle for the girl he calls "the spitting image of me" is to pass a DNA test.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/State-removes-11-abused-and-neglected-children-3345180.php

OMG. These people need to be "put down" like rabid animals.

I agree Twink. And sheesh with all those adults in the house, there was no reason to tie up kids. There should have been enough adults to watch the kids. Of course maybe they didn't want the kids bothering them so they could eat, drink, watch TV and whatever else they were doing while they had those poor kids locked in a room. And the caretaker has been charged with child sex abuse before??? What the heck was she doing in charge of any kids at all. Our system is so broken and TX seems to be one of those states whose system is really screwed up.

Babyj, Texas and Florida. At least Texas delivers punishments. Florida, not so much. We have a baby killer running around free making videos for her web site.