College Station woman charged with causing serious injuries to child

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Another College Station resident is being charged with taking the punishment of a child too far, according to arrest records.

Lela Charnell Huntt, 46, was arrested last Thursday and charged with Assault Causing Bodily Injury-Family Violence.

According to a probable cause statement, Huntt used an extension cord to discipline the child.

The report says the teen was struck 10-15 times with the cord, leaving numerous scars on her legs and arms. Police noted that some of the cards were scabbed over, indicating that there were open wounds initially.

Huntt’s bond has been set at $30,000.

Her arrest comes within days of a College Station man accused of beating a child with a belt as a form of discipline to the point that she was left with bleeding wounds.

Texas law requires that any person suspecting that a child has been abused or neglected must immediately make a report. If there is an emergency, call 911 and then call the DFPS Texas Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400. You can also make a report onlineExternal Link.

In Texas, the definitions of child abuse and neglect include specific acts or omissions by a person responsible for a child’s care, custody or welfare. Here are important legal definitions from Section 261.001 of the Texas Family Code.

“Abuse” includes the following acts or omissions by a person:

mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning;causing or permitting the child to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning;physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child to a substantial risk of harm;failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child;sexual conduct harmful to a child’s mental, emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young child or disabled individual under Section 21.02, Penal Code, indecency with a child under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section 22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021, Penal Code;failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;compelling or encouraging the child to engage in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code, including compelling or encouraging the child in a manner that constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons under Section 20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code, solicitation of prostitution under Section 43.021, Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;the current use by a person of a controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or emotional injury to a child;causing, expressly permitting, or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code;knowingly causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a child to be trafficked in a manner punishable as an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(5), (6), (7), or (8), Penal Code, or the failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent a child from being trafficked in a manner punishable as an offense under any of those sections; orforcing or coercing a child to enter into a marriage.