Wichita Falls couple indicted after signs of extensive physical abuse found on children
Editor’s Note: This news story contains details about alleged child abuse. If you know or suspect that anyone under 18 is being sexually or physically abused, call the Texas child abuse hotline at 1-800-252-5400. To learn more about how to identify signs of child abuse or neglect, click here.
A Wichita Falls woman and her boyfriend, both accused of abusing her five children, were indicted for charges of injury to a child, court records show.
Briea D Shon Shields is suspected of not seeking treatment for her 2-year-old after Andre Carl Rogers burned the child's face and of beating four other children with cords or belts, according to allegations in indictments.
Rogers is accused of burning the little girl and beating all five children with an extension cord, phone charging cord or belt.
Shields, 28, was being held Wednesday in the Wichita County Detention Center on $525,000 total bail, according to online jail records. Rogers, 31, was being held on $600,000 in total bonds.
Court documents filed Feb. 21 show a Wichita County grand jury indicted Shields for charges in connection with a Dec. 2 incident: one count of intentionally causing serious injury to a child and four counts of intentionally causing injury to a child.
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The charge for serious injury of a child is punishable by up to life in prison. The other charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years in prison.
Rogers' indictment lists the same five charges, as well as tampering with evidence. He is suspected of cutting a brown extension cord used to whip the children and putting it in a dumpster when he found out police and Child Protective Services were coming to investigate.
Tampering with evidence is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Wichita Falls police affidavits detail the allegations against Shields and Rogers and the grounds for their arrests. Anyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Child Protective Services visited their North Fifth Street home since the family had a history with CPS in Dallas County, according to allegations in the affidavit.
CPS workers discovered five of six children — all under 10 — who were in the home suffered injuries from beatings, and a 2-year-old girl was transported to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth because of severe wounds covering much of her body, according to allegations.
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The 2-year-old was malnourished, had a facial burn, abrasions and lacerations, according to allegations. A 9-year-old girl told investigators her mother struck them with belts, and the mother's boyfriend beat them with extension cords.
Two older children pointed to the boyfriend as hurting the 2-year-old. In addition, Shields blamed her boyfriend for the 2-year-old's injuries.
Shields told police she whipped her children mostly on their buttocks, but a medical exam found no injuries to their buttocks, according to allegations.
At first, Shields told investigators the 2-year-old had eczema on her face. Later, she said Rogers held the child's head under scalding water in the bathtub because the 2-year-old would not say “potty” during potty-training, according to allegations.
Rogers told police he put the child under a hot shower, causing the burn, and he threw the extension cord in the dumpster, according to allegations.
Shields faces two more unindicted charges in connection with Dec. 2, 2023: reckless injury to a child and injury to a child. Reckless injury to a child is punishable by up to two years in a state jail facility.
Rogers was also being held without bond on charges of theft of property, $2,500 to $30,000, and drug possession.
Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent work here. Her X handle is @Trishapedia.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls couple indicted after signs of extensive physical abuse found on children
