Wichita Falls couple jailed after kids found beaten, one scalded
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 are jailed under high bail after Child Protective Services found the woman’s children injured from beatings with belts and extension cords. A two-year-old girl was sent to Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth because of the severity of wounds over much of her body.
CPS on Saturday visited a home on North Fifth Street because the family that lived there had a history with CPS in Dallas County, where they recently lived.
CPS workers discovered five out of six children in the home, all under the age of 10, had recent and healed injuries. The two-year-old girl had a liquid burn on her face, abrasions and lacerations over most of her body, and was malnourished.
A five-year old boy told investigators his mother had “whooped” him with an extension cord because he had soiled his pants.
CPS workers took the family to a hospital where all but a two-month-old girl was found to have current and healed injuries that appeared to be inflicted by belts or extension cords.
A nine-year-old girl told investigators their mother whipped them with belts while the mother’s boyfriend whipped them with extension cords. Two of the older children said injuries to the two-year-old girl were inflicted by the boyfriend.
Briea D Shon Shields and Andre Carl Rogers were arrested and charged with Injury to a Child. Their bail was set at $100,000 each. Rogers also faces theft and drug charges in Dallas County.
Shields admitted to police she whipped her children with belts and extension cords but blamed her boyfriend for the injuries on the two-year-old. She said she whipped the children mostly on their buttocks, but a medical exam showed none had injuries to their buttocks.
Shields first told investigators the burns on the two-year-old’s face were due to eczema but changed her story and said they were from Rogers holding the girl’s head under scalding water in the bathtub because she would not say “potty” while being potty trained.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls couple jailed after kids found beaten, one scalded
