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Houston Daycare Owner Flees State After Deadly Fire Kills Four Children
Posted on Mar 25, 2011
The operator of a Houston in-home daycare center has fled Texas and possibly the country after police say that she is possibly responsible for a fire in her home that killed four young children and seriously injured three others. According to CNN, 22-year-old Jessica Tata left for Georgia and possibly for Nigeria after police wanted to question her regarding the fatal daycare fire. She has been placed on the 15 Most Wanted list.
The fire took place on February 24, when police say a pot of oil left on an electric stove caught fire. At the time, authorities now believe that Tata had left the seven children unsupervised while she drove to the grocery store to do food shopping. Neighbors have reported that the fire was discovered when she returned with bags and opened the door to her house. In addition, a camera at Target shows that Tata was shopping at the time that the fire started. However, when police interviewed Tata, she lied to them about how the events took place.
The daycare center was licensed, but had only been in operation for about a year. Tata had no previous complaints filed about her daycare service.
Texas police have charged her with six counts of reckless injury to a child, three counts of abandoning a child, four counts of manslaughter, and one count of unlawful flight. All of the children under her care were between 18 months and three years old. The fire is still under investigation.
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