Affidavit: Children malnourished despite ‘extensive amount’ of food in kitchen

The three siblings of the one-year-old girl allegedly beaten by her father all had to be admitted to the hospital for “various injuries and varying degrees of malnutrition,” criminal complaint affidavits filed against the mother state.

The woman, facing charges along with her husband, failed to report the abuse to Child Protective Services, the court documents obtained by ABC-7 state.

Police responded to a family violence call at 12261 Tierra Canada on August 17, 2018 at about 11:30 a.m. At the time, police said a one-year-old girl was “found severely injured” and two other children at the residence “had signs of physical abuse.” One of the criminal complaints obtained by ABC-7 state the one-year-old girl has three siblings.

On August 17, 2018, 27-year-old Anthony Williams was charged with “Injury to a Child”‘ and booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility under a $750,000 bond. On Wednesday, August 22, 2018, police charged Williams with two additional counts of “Injury to a Child” and a single count of “Abandoning or Endangering a Child.” After the additional charges were filed, Williams’ bond increased to $1.5 million. Online records reveal the bond has since been reduced to $900,000.

Crimes Against Children and Child Protective Services conducted a joint investigation, which resulted in the arrest of Williams and his wife, 24-year-old Jessica Garcia. Police charged Garcia with three counts of “Injury to a Child” and a single count of “Abandoning or Endangering a Child.” She was jailed on a $400,000 bond.

The criminal complaint affidavit filed for Williams states the man told detectives he was teaching his one-year-old daughter how to walk, but the child kept going “limp and falling.” Williams allegedly told investigators, that as a form of discipline, he hit the child with a comb all over her body. Further, the document states Williams allegedly told police he “smacked” the girl on her head with his hand, “grabbed her thighs with force, squeezed her and embedded his fingernails into her skin.”

Williams allegedly told detectives he disciplines all of his children “in a similar manner,” court documents state. In regards to the one-year-old girl critically-injured, Williams allegedly told police he picked up the girl and violently shook her. After he placed the child on her chair, the girl “collapsed with her eyes open, became limp and stopped moving,” police said.

The criminal complaint affidavits filed against Garcia state the woman told investigators she was aware of how her husband was disciplining the children. “Garcia was able to explain that the father was using a plastic comb, in a flicking motion, to cause the cuts on the skin,” the criminal complaint states, “(Garcia) stated the comb would hit the children’s exposed skin, tearing off the skin.”

The document further states, Garcia allegedly told detectives “she would then treat the bloody wounds by putting toilet paper on them until they stopped bleeding and would then put Neosporin on them.” Garcia allegedly told detectives she never tried to report the injuries or the alleged abuse to Child Protective Services.

A two-year-old sibling of the child in critical condition allegedly had bruising on his face and body along with skin tear injuries. “All of the injuries were in various stages of healing,” the document states.

A 3-year-old sibling of the child in critical condition allegedly had bruises on her body and skin tear injuries on her back. “The cuts were in various stages of healing, to include scarring,” the criminal complaint states. The 3-year-old child “was also found to be suffering from mild malnutrition.”

In regards to a third sibling, a criminal complaint states, “it was also clear the victim was being fed much less than his siblings. According to the child’s doctors, his malnutrition was severe and his bones showed a growth arrest line, which is when the bones stop growing due to the stress of the malnutrition, and was also suffering borderline demineralization of his bones.”

“Even though all the children were malnourished, a search warrant executed on the home showed an extensive amount of food in the kitchen.”

Court documents state the injured one-year-old girl remains hospitalized in critical condition.