TEMPLE, Texas — A Texas couple were arrested and charged with injury to child/elderly/disabled with intent of bodily injury after a doctor's visit uncovered they had refused to let children in their care eat.
An affidavit obtained by 6 News said Temple police officers responded to McLane Children's Hospital on Aug. 27 for a report of child neglect. Officers spoke to a social worker who told police an eight-year-old had been brought in for a routine appointment for cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder in which a person's lungs and digestive system get clogged with mucus, by his mother, Alicia Sophia Aguillon, and father, William Cody Brown.
The doctor caring for the boy noticed he had lost 17% of his body weight in three months and was determined to not be caused by his cystic fibrosis, the affidavit said. The doctor asked the boy if he always got to eat when he was hungry and the boy told the doctor "no," according to the affidavit. The boy added that his parents got to eat dinner every day and he only got to eat "sometimes," the affidavit continued.
The boy asked the doctor for a snack, which was given according to the affidavit, and the boy's mother was irritated even though she stated she had not been able to give him breakfast due to being late to the appointment.
The boy's mother also told the doctor he had "been sneaking out and found in dumpsters."
The eight-year-old was admitted to the hospital for malnutrition, and Aguillon and Brown remained with the boy for roughly an hour before leaving him unattended, the affidavit stated.
A CPS investigator interviewed the boy, who said there was "a camera in his room and lock on his door to prevent him from sneaking out." When the CPS investigator asked the boy why he would sneak out, he told them he would sneak out to find food and "one time he was in the dumpster eating trash because he was trying to find food."
CPS investigators also interviewed Aguillon's other children – ages six and three – who told them about how their older brother would get locked in his room and not be allowed to eat. The six-year-old showed the investigator a sliding lock on the counter, which had been screwed into the outside of the eight-year-old boy's bedroom door, according to the affidavit.
The CPS investigator also noted a camera on the closet door and an abundance of food in the pantry, refrigerator and freezer, the affidavit stated.
CPS also noted that the other children showed signs of malnutrition. The six-year-old and three-year-old were also admitted to the hospital, and the six-year-old was given a SANE exam. During the SANE exam, the six-year-old said Aguillon and Brown would hit her with a stick for trying to sneak into the kitchen to get food. The six-year-old also said that Brown would tell her eight-year-old brother that he was not allowed to eat food.
The affidavit goes on to say that the CPS investigator spoke to the eight-year-old's school nurse, who said for medical reasons the boy was supposed to receive three dietary shakes a day. While the boy was at home over the summer, the nurse stated, he did not receive his shakes, the affidavit said. Aguillon told the school "not to overfeed" the children because they had a "medical condition" that made them vomit if they ate too much, and that they had "developmental delays" that caused them to always ask for more food, according to the affidavit.
CPS obtained the children's medical records and conferred with their medical providers, and they learned that no such "medical condition" existed, the affidavit said.
According to Bell County Jail Records, Aguillon and Brown are being held in jail on the same third-degree felony charge, with both of their bonds set at $40,000 and $30,000 respectively.
