Texas school teachers lock up student without food until child started eating own feces
HIGHLANDS, TEXAS: A former Liberty ISD teacher and two instructional assistants have been arrested for allegedly isolating a student with no food until they were forced to eat their own feces and drink their urine.
Melody LaPointe, 47, of Baytown; Tarah Tinney, 33, of Liberty; and Augusta Costlow, 27, of Liberty, have been charged with four counts of abandoning or endangering a child. As per court documents, the incident took place at Liberty Independent School District, Texas, in 2021, when the workers placed a pupil in isolation and deprived them of food until they started eating their feces, The Mirror reported.
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LISD officials immediately alerted law enforcement upon learning of the allegations and placed the educators on administrative leave while conducting the investigation last year. The three suspects were arrested earlier this month, following an investigation of four separate incidents that happened in April last year, The Vindicator reported.
LaPointe was arrested at Bonnie P Harper Primary School in Baytown, where she had been working as a teacher after being removed by LISD. Meanwhile, Tinney and Costlow were taken in custody by the Liberty County Pct 6 Constables Office. The case is assigned to the 253rd District Court of Judge Chap Cain.
An urgent email was sent by the Primary school to parents on Thursday, November 17 to inform them that the teacher has been arrested. "In an effort of full transparency, we want to inform our families of an incident that occurred yesterday during dismissal. A teacher at Bonnie P Hopper Primary School was arrested yesterday by Liberty County constables. The cause for arrest occurred in Liberty County and is not affiliated with Goose Creek CISD in any way. The teacher is currently placed on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of an investigation, after which the District will take appropriate disciplinary action.” The Email read.
However, the email left the parents furious and made them question why LaPointe was hired given the investigation and disturbing accusations at her former school district. "I am scared to send my daughter to school," Amanda Henry, who has a 6-year-old daughter at Hopper Primary, told ABC 13. "You are supposed to send them there to be protected, and they hire this lady who apparently they did not do an extensive background check on and hurt a child, left this child locked up in a room, having to eat his own feces and drink his own urine. It's disturbing." LaPointe has an investigatory flag on her Texas Educator Certificate, according to the Texas Education Agency.