Woman, 37, arrested after toddlers found 'caged, hog-tied and soiled'
A woman has been arrested after two children, aged 1 and 2, were found alone and tied up in a Texas home.
Priscilla Ann Salais, 37, was charged on Tuesday (local time) with two counts of endangering a child, local publication KSAT reports.
San Antonio police found the children on Sunday afternoon after a woman called 911 asking for them to check on them in a locked bedroom, court documents say.
After firefighters forced their way inside, they found a girl with bound wrists and ankles, police said.
“We had to breach the door to the bedroom to get in. Inside they found a one-year-old little girl who was bound — hands and feet — hogtied. Hands and feet bound together. A black eye. Bloody lip,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.
“And a little boy – a two-year-old little boy – who was in a playpen that was covered on top. So it was like a cage.”
Chief McManus told local publications both of the children were “heavily soiled” and crying.
They are now in the custody of the state’s child protective services (CPS).
“What she did to these children is unforgivable,” Chief McManus said, adding that the charge of child endangerment carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail.
“Two years seems like nothing compared to what she did to these children”.
ABC7 reports that Salais is not the biological mum of the kids but was granted custody of them as their parents were investigated by CPS.
Salais denied the charges when she was confronted by media outside a police station.
The children’s mum told News 4 San Antonio her kids had been placed in a foster home after she was deemed “an inherent risk”.
“All the risks that were supposedly at risk being with me their mother is exactly what happened in the homes that they put them in,” she said.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
