GUILTY TX - 4 kids dead after in-home day care fire, Houston, 24 Feb 2011

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Nandee63 said:
Former classmates: Jessica Tata was accused of arson fires in high school.

Article here:
http://www.khou.com/news/cnn/Former...-of-arson-fires-in-high-school-117202603.html
Click to expand...

and the brother confirms this happened on the video at 3:10 here

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7989420

and excuses this by saying she was 14 or 15 yrs old at the time and has paid her debt to society...

WHAT !!!

so she goes to the store with her passport??? in case of what ???
 
And why isn't she charged with manslaughter, considering four children are dead?
A law professor quoted in the article thinks that could jeopardize her extradition. I fail to understand what DA's office is thinking.
 
How horrific for any parent. Prayers for those families involved. What was that woman thinking and how could she safely care for all those babies all by herself. This is exactly why I always use licensed day care centers for my kids. Much less likely for something like this to happen since they are much more regulated with many many more eyes watching.
 
less0305 said:
This completely has nothing to do with anything, but how does a 22 or 23 year old afford to own a house like this in Atlanta? Not that it matters, but I'm dumbfounded in a way by that alone.
Click to expand...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7459711.html

"The extent to which she may have had business partners remains unclear. The property where the day care was located - a house at 2810 Crest Park Drive - is owned by [RV], who has not returned repeated calls from the Houston Chronicle to explain his relationship with Tata."
 
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/international/110313-fugitive-jessica-tata

"Jessica Tata has been tracked to an area in Rivers State, Nigeria, says U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee."

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8012506

"Our legal analyst Joel Androphy, who's been a witness to several foreign extradition fights, says it may take years to get Tata back."

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8012037

No US authorities are there and News 13 (Houston) found that the area she's probably in is very dangerous and filled with "thugs and militants."
 
Years to get her back? And they will have to find her first.
Considering LE had a tip she was trying to flee, and did nothing to stop her, that really upsets me.
 
Brother: Woman accused in fatal Texas day care fire turns herself in to authorities in Nigeria

Ron Tata told The Associated Press that relatives in Nigeria informed him early Saturday that Jessica Tata went to the U.S. consulate because “it would be the right thing to do.”

U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Jeff Carter said the 22-year-old woman wasn’t in the agency’s custody. E-mails sent to the U.S. consulate in Nigeria weren’t immediately returned.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/broth...1/03/19/ABALxCw_story.html?wprss=rss_national
 
If it is true that she actually going to be returning to US, that's a good outcome.
From what I have read, there is a guy in Houston (charged with three counts of intoxication manslaughter) who has run off to Nepal in 2010 and hasn't been seen since.
Regarding Tata, I don't believe she has actually lived in Nigeria, or if she did, it was a long time ago, when she was a little child. Was she born in US? So she wouldn't have had an easy time trying to make it there, which is a good thing in this case.
 
Jessica is actually back in Houston.... sporting handcuffs and a bullet proof vest.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7485131.html


This is an older interview, from March 10.... with Tiffany Dickerson.

You don't often see the reporter hug the person they are interviewing.

Mom Grieves for Son Lost in Child Care Fire
Daughter recovering in Shriner Burn Hospital

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/110310-mom-grieves-for-son-lost-in-child-care-fire


New interview with Tiffany Dickerson.... who's son was killed and daughter was injured in the fire. Her daughter is doing very well.

http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Moth...or-I-want-to-see-Tata-in-court-118396439.html


Jane Velez Mitchell covered this Monday night.

They had Kendyll's mother on and showed clips of Tiffany Dickerson.
 
Flmomof2 said:
How horrific for any parent. Prayers for those families involved. What was that woman thinking and how could she safely care for all those babies all by herself. This is exactly why I always use licensed day care centers for my kids. Much less likely for something like this to happen since they are much more regulated with many many more eyes watching.
Click to expand...

Problem with that theory...she was licensed. She was listed on a trusted government site as being approved and licensed. She had never had a single complaint, and she was reverified by the state every two years. The parents made visits to the home to check up on her.

Important lessons here to be learned. No matter how carefully you check, or the state checks or the feds check, a day care is just a nice way of saying "approved strangers to leave your children with." MOO.

I'm glad they got the witch back here. Now we can hear what a tragedy her life was, and all the mitigating factors that I don't care to hear about, but that will probably spare her a life sentence. Too bad something horrible didn't happen to her during transport.
 
not_my_kids said:
Problem with that theory...she was licensed. She was listed on a trusted government site as being approved and licensed. She had never had a single complaint, and she was reverified by the state every two years. The parents made visits to the home to check up on her.

Important lessons here to be learned. No matter how carefully you check, or the state checks or the feds check, a day care is just a nice way of saying "approved strangers to leave your children with." MOO.

I'm glad they got the witch back here. Now we can hear what a tragedy her life was, and all the mitigating factors that I don't care to hear about, but that will probably spare her a life sentence. Too bad something horrible didn't happen to her during transport.
Click to expand...

The only thing that could have really been done is if the state had checked on her record as a juvenile. Not sure if they are allowed to do that or not - from what I've read about this story, she claimed she had no juvenile record and whoever approves daycare license applications believed that. If they could have checked, maybe they would have seen the arson charge and denied her the license. Unfortunately, there's nothing more the parents could have done in this case and no way for them to know that the person they were leaving their children with had a history with fires.
 
BuzzieCat said:
The only thing that could have really been done is if the state had checked on her record as a juvenile. Not sure if they are allowed to do that or not - from what I've read about this story, she claimed she had no juvenile record and whoever approves daycare license applications believed that. If they could have checked, maybe they would have seen the arson charge and denied her the license. Unfortunately, there's nothing more the parents could have done in this case and no way for them to know that the person they were leaving their children with had a history with fires.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I'm not blaming the parents. They followed every single tip for picking a day care. They checked her status with the state, they made a visit, and if they did call the BBB or state to check on complaints, they wouldn't have found any.
There literally is no way to be sure who you are leaving your kids with when you take them to day care. None. This woman seems to have gone from the perfect care provider to reckless homicide in 1 day flat. How do you protect against that? Simply put, no one can, unless they can read minds.

I know that juvenile records are sealed, and I understand why, but either someone dropped the ball, be it with this individual case or with the laws that mean that her juvie record can't be checked. If she had been shoplifting at 13, probably not enough to keep her from being a provider. However, trying to burn down her school, that should have kept her away from the title of child care provider pretty easily if she was anywhere over the age of 10 at the time. Somebody screwed up, and it wasn't the parents.
 
I didn't mean to imply you were blaming the parents. Exactly the opposite in fact. I just wanted to add that the only way to possibly avoid it would be if the daycare approvers could/would check juvenile records.

I guess this story has really stuck with me because of those poor kids and the fact that it just didn't have to happen. It would have been so easy for her to just NOT go out at all, much less go out and leave a pot of oil heating. I don't get it!

ETA: Does anyone know if the general rule is to seal ANY juvenile record, no matter what type of crime it is, no matter the severity?
 
BuzzieCat said:
I didn't mean to imply you were blaming the parents. Exactly the opposite in fact. I just wanted to add that the only way to possibly avoid it would be if the daycare approvers could/would check juvenile records.

I guess this story has really stuck with me because of those poor kids and the fact that it just didn't have to happen. It would have been so easy for her to just NOT go out at all, much less go out and leave a pot of oil heating. I don't get it!

ETA: Does anyone know if the general rule is to seal ANY juvenile record, no matter what type of crime it is, no matter the severity?
Click to expand...

The criminal background check did include juvenile records, but nothing came up for her. Not clear why. Since she was tried in juvenile court, there is no official conviction, so maybe that's why?
http://www.ultimatekaty.com/stories/235580-houston-fire-suspect-had-prior-arson-case
 
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