Six-Year-Old Texas Boy Tied Up In Shed For Weeks For Stealing Food, Grandmother, Boyfriend Arrested

In a case of child abuse, a woman and her boyfriend were arrested after a six-year-old boy was found tied up in a shed in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday (May 10).

According to local reports, Dallas police responded to 53-year-old Esmeralda Lira’s home after receiving an anonymous tip. When questioned about where her six-year-old grandson was, the woman lied to the officers that he was with his mother. However, police found a man, later identified as 64-year-old Jose Balderas, Lira’s live-in boyfriend, in the back of the property. When the same question was asked to the man, he pointed them toward the shed. The officers then found the boy in the shed with his hands tied behind his back.

The grandmother told the officers that this was the first time the boy was locked in the shed. Her boyfriend, however, said the boy has been living in the shed for at least two weeks as a punishment for stealing food.

The officers then spoke to the boy who told them that the abuse started since he “got out of school for this corona thing.” He said that he was forced to sleep in the shed by his grandmother and her boyfriend. Following the interrogation, Lira and Balderas were taken into custody on charges of endangering a child.

Meanwhile, the victim, his seven-year-old sister and, four-year-old brother were removed from the home by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and they will be placed in foster care.

“We all should be looking out for the children in our community, especially now that they’re not in school,” said Marissa Gonzales with Texas DFPS. An investigation into the case was ongoing and information regarding the parents of the children was not available.

The incident comes a day after a man in Kentucky was arrested for locking his two minor children in the basement of his home surrounded by meth and marijuana paraphernalia. Police responded to his home to conduct a welfare check on the children, aged two and three. The officers found them locked in the basement. Substances including methamphetamine and marijuana paraphernalia were also found in the basement. Following this, their father, identified as 31-year-old Austin Fuqua, was arrested and charged with wanton endangerment, endangering the welfare of minor and unlawful imprisonment.