Texas woman sentenced for mistreating special needs teens

A Houston-area woman has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for the mistreatment of seven special needs teenagers found in 2016 locked in a room strewn with human waste.

Fifty-five-year-old Paula Sinclair was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to several counts of causing serious bodily injury to a child.

The teens found in the Richmond home ranged in age from 14 to 16 years old. Authorities say they were fed two daily meals of rice and beans and disciplined for things like making too much noise.

Sinclair and a former husband adopted the children in 2003 and 2004 and had been their foster parents.

Sinclair was arrested along with her husband, 79-year-old Allen Richardson, who is being held at the Fort Bend County jail on charges that include aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.