A third suspect wanted by San Antonio police in a horrendous child abuse case turned himself into the police on Tuesday. Deandre Dorch, 36, surrendered quietly at a San Antonio police station and was quickly charged with at least two counts of child abuse known as serious bodily injury to a child by omission.
Two weeks ago eight children were found at a home. Two of them were outside and six more were inside. Dorch is the father of several of them. Police found one child chained to the ground an another child was restrained and tied up to a door with a dog leash. Apparently, Dorch and his wife, Porucha, 34, were in their home with their six children and were supposedly babysitting for the two children that were restrained out in the yard. Dorch’s wife and the mother of a toddler, Cheryl Reed, 30, were arrested last week in the incident.
Reed’s two children, who were restrained out in the yard, have been in the custody of the Dorch’s who may have demanded money from Reed after they were upset about her leaving the state. Police state that it remains unclear if there was any criminal threatening going on and who it was that actually tied down the children who were outside.
Police said that Dorch had previously witnessed Reed beating her children with a thin tree branch on previous occasions. Dorch said he didn’t report the incident because he was neither a “snitch” or “God”. One of the children, when examined by doctor’s, was suffering with hypothermia. The doctors reported that the children were covered with injuries that were both old and quite recent.
Both children were treated at a local hospital. Police immediately came to the scene after there were complaints of children crying for long periods of time. The children who were restrained outside were between 2 and 3 years of age. The other six, in the house were from 10 months to 10 years old. All of the children are now in the hands of the Texas child protective custody system.
PHOTO CREDIT: The Washington Post