Crime Time

Update: Haltom City police ID man suspected of threatening babysitter

The man arrested after authorities say he threatened his babysitter Monday afternoon with a bomb scare has been identified as Javier Payan of Watauga, police said Tuesday.

The babysitter, who was not identified, was also in custody Tuesday with injury-to-a-child charges pending, police said.

But police today declined to release the name of the babysitter or the condition and gender of the child.

What we do know is in this report from Domingo Ramirez Jr.

-- Bill Miller

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/04/23/4797168/police-identify-man-who-threatened.html#storylink=cpy

UPDATE: 85 years in prison given Dallas woman for dehydration death of stepson

A Dallas woman whose 10-year-old stepson died after she denied him water during sweltering weather, was sentenced Tuesday to 85 years in prison.

Tina Marie Alberson was convicted last week of reckless injury to a child, a second-degree felony, in the July 2011 death of Jonathan James.

The boy's mother, Krista Bishop, told reporters, "We got what we needed."

Read the full update by Nomaan Merchant of The Associated Press.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/01/22/4565463/dallas-stepmom-gets-85-years-in.html#storylink=cpy

Dallas woman faces life in prison for stepson's dehydration death

Jurors today will start figuring out how to punish a Dallas woman convicted in the dehydration death of her 10-year stepson.

Tina Marie Alberson faces up to life in prison because of a previous felony conviction.

She was convicted Friday of injury to a child, a second-degree felony, in the July 2011 death of Jonathan James. The boy was denied water for days during record-high temperatures in North Texas.

Here's an update from The Associated Press.

Dallas man gets 99 years in prison for starving 3 kids

A Dallas jury has sentenced a 38-year-old man to 99 years in prison for starving three children locked in a hotel bathroom.

Alfred Santiago was convicted of injury to a child and continuous sexual abuse, the Associated Press reported.

The three children were emaciated when discovered last summer with ribs and spines showing through flaky skin, the AP reported. The oldest, an 11-year-old girl, told authorities that she had been sexually assaulted repeatedly, the AP reported.

-- Lance Murray

Mom accused of stabbing toddler son 20 times

A Fresno, Calif., mother stabbed her toddler son up to 20 times Monday and, amazingly, the son has survived, police said.

Police responded to the woman's apartment Tuesday afternoon after a neighbor said she saw the 3-year-old boy with stab wounds outside the apartment, the Associated Press reported.  Screaming, the boy's mother told paramedics to stay away from the boy, the AP reported, and she had to be held back by police officers.

The boy, who had stab wounds all over his body, was taken to a hospital where he remains in critical condition, the AP reported.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Teacher slammed special-needs student's head on table

A former teacher at a middle school in the Socorro school district near El Paso has been charged with injury to a child after a parent reported that the teacher had slammed a special-needs student's head onto a desk.

The 53-year-old man has resigned from the district and was arrested Monday by school district police, the El Paso Times reported.

The incident took place on April 2 during an afternoon class and the investigation began April 14, according to a complaint affidavit obtained by the Times from police.

The Times reported that according to the document, the teacher became upset that the boy was talking and would not let the other kids hear a video. The teacher asked the student several times to be quiet and to put his hands on the desk or "he was going to do it for him," the Times reported.

"The victim did not listen and (the teacher) stood up, walked towards the victim and grabbed him by the back of his neck. (The teacher) in an aggressive manner and with force slammed the victims (sic) head on the student's desk," the affidavit stated.

The ex-teacher was booked and then released on bond, the Times reported.

-- Lance Murray

Houston woman charged with starving daughter to death

Parents starving their children is an inconceivable idea for many people.

But there's news out of Houston that a woman there has been charged with injury to a child for allegedly starving her 8-year-old daughter to death. The girl weighed only 15 pounds when she died in January 2009, according to reports.

Almita Nicole Lockhart, 34, is in jail on a $30,000 bond, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle.

-- Lance Murray

Couple kept girl in unlit closet for about a year, police say

A Brownsville couple are facing injury to a child charges after being accused of keeping the woman's 12-year-old daughter in an unlit closet for about a year.

Alfredo and Leticia Ines are being held in jail on $275,000 bail each.

Police said the girl was only let out of the closet to attend school, eat and use the bathroom during the day and would do her homework using the light that came under the door.

Police said she appeared malnourished and small for her age, The Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Man cracks baby's skull when it cries during TV soccer match

Police in New York say they've charged a man who fractured a baby's skull because she cried during a TV soccer match.

The man is the babysitter's boyfriend, police said. They said he picked up the baby seat and slammed it against the floor.

The baby's mother later noticed the baby's injury and took to a hospital. Officials there called police and the boyfriend was arrested.

-- Lance Murray

Houston mother gets 99-year sentence for mutilating infant son

The Houston Chronicle reports that a 28-year-old mother has been sentenced to 99 years in prison for cutting off her infant son's genitals.

She had claimed that the family's dachshund dog had done it while she slept. The courtroom was an emotional scene during witness impact statement, the paper reported, with angry family members shouting at the woman.

-- Lance Murray