A SIX-year-old was allegedly tied up and forced to sleep in a shed by his grandmother and her boyfriend for two weeks during the coronavirus crisis.
Dallas cops arrested 53-year-old Esmeralda Lira on Mother's Day after being tipped off about the alleged abuse of her grandson during the COVID-19 lockdown, local reports say.
Lira's live-in boyfriend, Jose Balderas, 64, reportedly told police her grandson was being punished for a fortnight for stealing food, however.
After cops found the frightened boy with his hands tied behind his back, he told them the alleged abuse started when he “got out of school for this corona thing," WFLA reports.
Lira initially told police her grandson was with his mom - but a man living at the back of her Pleasant Grove property alerted the authorities the boy was allegedly being kept in her shed.
She also told investigators locking up her grandson was a one-off before Balderas said he'd been there for two weeks.
Cops told Dallas Morning News the little boy - who hasn't been identified due to the nature of the case - wasn't hospitalized.
FELONY CHARGES
Lira's grandson, his sister aged seven, and their 4-year-old brother have all been removed from her home on Coston Drive as a result of the incident.
The grandmother and Balderas both face felony charges for endangering a child.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services are investigating the alleged abuse, according to KSN Local 4.
Texas DFPS said calls to its abuse hotline have decreased because doctors, teachers and police officers aren't seeing children as regularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marissa Gonzales of DFPS said "we all should be looking out for the children in our community, especially now that they’re not in school."
INCREASE IN ALLEGED ABUSE
Back in March, hospital medics in the nearby city of Fort Worth highlighted a spike in alleged child abuse cases there.
Dr Jamye Coffman, the medical director at the Cook's Children Hospital, told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth they usually see eight cases a month.
But one week, doctors there dealt with six such incidents within seven days, she said.
"There's no way for us to directly link that, but that's the concern," Coffman said of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the physical abuse of children in-state.
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"Are these families under more stress related to financial issues, whether it's lost jobs or concerns for their jobs?" Coffman asked.
"We also saw similar types of things happen during the recession where, in our trauma department, the most common cause of trauma death in children was motor vehicle collisions.
"During the recession, that changed to abusive head trauma, and I don't want to see that again."