Texas mother arrested after 8-year-old malnourished child breaks into home, steals food
06/28/2023 1:41 pm PDT
SAN BENITO, Texas (TCD) -- Deputies arrested a mother last week after her child allegedly broke into a home and stole food this month.
On June 8, deputies from the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home on Petras Road to perform a welfare check on an 8-year-old juvenile. At the scene, the complainants told the Sheriff’s Office the unknown child went into the home, "opened the refrigerator, and started eating their food."
When the complainants saw the child, he reportedly had food in his hands and told them he was "hungry."
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the complainants said the child was "skinny," and he "seemed very weak and malnourished."
The complainants reportedly brought the child back to his home, where they tried to talk with his mother, Crystal Viera, but she wasn’t there. The mother and her boyfriend eventually came back, the Sheriff’s Office said.
During an interview, the mother reportedly told deputies she left the child home alone. The Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division concluded the child suffered malnourishment and physical neglect, and they gathered enough evidence to secure a warrant.
On June 20, deputies arrested Viera on a charge of abandonment/endangerment of a child with imminent bodily injury. She was booked into the Cameron County Jail on $20,000 bond.
Child Protective Services removed the child from the home.
The investigation is ongoing.
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