Bensalem Woman Free On Bail After Accusations Of Child Endangerment
BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) - A Bensalem woman is free on $25,000 bail after she was accused of endangering her pre-teen son by allegedly doing nothing while her boyfriend was beating him in a bedroom in their home last year.
Police say they waited nearly a year to charge 30-year-old Johnieka Billups because they wanted to see how the case against her boyfriend Juan Riggins would be resolved. He was sentenced earlier this month to six to 15 years in jail for beating the 11-year-old so badly he needed to be hospitalized.
"He was upstairs beating this child and in some cases torture, tying this child up, gagging this child, hitting him on his face and throughout his body," said Bensalem Public Safety Director Fred Harran.
Harran says Billups was downstairs during the assault and did nothing to help her child. She no longer has custody of the boy and can only see him during supervised visits. She initially told detectives she wasn't home during the attack. She's charged with child endangerment and related offenses.
Reported by Brad Segall, KYW Newsradio
