An Odessa woman is facing multiple felony charges after authorities discovered she left her four children, all under the age of 10, alone for more than 24 hours while she went to Mexico.
Cassandra Leigh Esparza, 25, was indicted July 11 on four counts of abandoning/endangering a child and arrested on Friday. The crime is a state jail felony punishable by a prison sentence of six months to two years.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, Child Protective Services notified OPD on Feb. 13 that they’d received a call from someone who reported four children, ages 2, 4, 7 and 9, were alone, scared and had no water or food.
The caller said after getting a call from one of the children asking for help, they went to the home in the 1400 block of Broughton Avenue and found the children filthy. According to the report, they said the 4-year-old had a cough, was wheezing and was having problems breathing. They also told CPS there wasn’t any food or drinks in the home, nor was there a stove or microwave.
A 9-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl were forensically interviewed and they said that before their mom went to Mexico, she gave them chips, chocolate and candy and told them to stay inside the home, according to the report. The 7-year-old said she had been changing her 2-year-old sister’s diaper and giving her 4-year-old sister medicine she’d found in the home.
She told the interviewer she was scared and they were all hungry, the report stated.
Ector County District Court records indicate Esparza is also awaiting trial on a September 2020 injury to a child charge, a November 2021 cocaine charge and a February controlled substance charge.
Esparza is being held without bond in the Ector County jail on the injury to a child charge. She’s also being held on surety bonds totaling $59,500 in the other cases.
