Starved, Scared and Beaten: Mother Faces Prison Time for Child Neglect

RACINE, WI — A 30-year-old Racine mother has been charged with child neglect and mental harm to a child after police say her elementary school-aged children repeatedly came to school without basic necessities, signs of abuse and fear of being kicked out of their home.

Regina Sanchez, 30, is being held in the Racine County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond.

According to her criminal complaint, when Sanchez's children, aged 7, 8, and 14 failed to show up for school on May 2, she was contacted by phone by a social worker. Sanchez told the social worker she "was tired of her children being brainwashed at school and that she was going to smack them." She stated that she did not care about going to jail.

Police were called to check the welfare of the children, and arrived at Sanchez's residence later that morning.

According to her criminal complaint, when an investigator was invited into the 8-year-old's bedroom, they observed a mattress on a box spring with no blankets, sheet or pillows. A cockroach ran across the floor and a baby diaper swoolen to the point of leaking laying on the floor. There were boxes of baby food, but no toys or personal items.
When asked about this, Sanchez stated she "wanted to scare to see, so she could change her attitude. "

According to the criminal complaint, at least one of the children was made to stay in a moldy basement with the door locked and the lights off as punishment on multiple occasions with her mother saying that "someone had died down there."

The criminal complaint stated that the children reported not being fed at night when they came home, and at times suffered from physical abuse at the hand of their mother, her boyfriend and their siblings, the complaint stated.

According to her criminal complaint, her children had suffered a lice infestation for months, and Sanchez would shave their heads a response multiple times - failing to solve the probelm.

The complaint stated each of the children were routinely without underwear, socks, or coats in the winter and suffered from excessively dry skin when their heads were shaved.

Police say that when the 8-year-old girl was asked whether she was worried about going home that night, she responded "yes." When she was asked what she was worried about, she responded "being kicked out of the house ... I'm too little to be kicked out of the house."

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