Bensalem Mom Charged With Child Endangerment In Son's Beating
BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) - A Bensalem mother is free on $25,000 bail, charged with child endangerment for allegedly sitting by and doing nothing while her boyfriend assaulted her pre-teen son last year.
Authorities waited nearly a year to charge Johnieka Billups, 30, who, police say, heard her 11-year-old son screaming in a bedroom, but did nothing. Juan Riggins was sentenced earlier this month to six-to-15 years behind bars for beating the boy so badly he needed to be hospitalized.
Bensalem Public Safety Director Fred Harran says the woman is charged with child endangerment and related offenses, "This is almost torture in my mind and here a mother sits by -- she doesn't deserve to be called a mother -- as she sits by and lets this man -- or this animal -- beat her young child."
Harran says police waited to see how the case against Riggins would be resolved before they charged Billups. She initially told police she wasn't home during the attack. She no longer has custody of the child and can only see him during supervised visits.
Reported by Suburban Bureau Chief Brad Segall, KYW Newsradio 1060
