Answers Sought In Deadly Fire At Jessica Tata's Day Care Center

[Obsolete]

How in the fuck did she get on a plane? Why weren't they watching her? Why wasn't her passport flagged? Were all the people that should have stopped her at the airport too busy groping middle aged moms such as myself?

Everything I read says she "will" be charged, nothing that states she "has" been charged. Until charges have been filed against her there wouldn't be any reason for the airlines to prevent her from getting on a plane and leaving. However, knowing that she is from a different country the LE should have confiscated her passport to prevent her from leaving...just in case.

Edit: Nm I just saw that she was charged already.

[Harley_Tech]

Probable cause statement on the charges that were filed against her.

R

[Harley_Tech]

The Houston Fire Department tells FOX 26 News that 22-year-old Jessica Tata left the country over the weekend. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Tata left through a flight out of Atlanta on Saturday.

Source link
She left on Saturday, Charges were filed on Sunday or Monday. The Immigration and Customs people had no legal right to detain her. Houston PD and FD were a day late and a dollar short on stopping her.

I believe that her being here legally or not, the fact that she was an immigrant should have been a red flag and they should have at least considered her a flight risk. (Monday morning quarter backing here)

In my shady little mind, her being there might be a good thing. It might well be easier for the families of the kids to have her "taken care of" there than here. Plus the up side of saving taxpayer dollars on a trial...


R

[Waiting4theEnd]

She fled to Nigeria on Saturday.... Good job HPD!

[Dark Star]

Oh goddamn. I cannot believe the bitch fled the country. You fucking coward.

[Chaindrive]

What the fuck? They just let her get away?

[MandaMalice]

My Husband is a Houston Firefighter and while he WASN'T on scene at the fire, it's pretty well known from the guys that WHERE on scene that the "Care Giver" was NOT at home when the fire started!

[Sister Iroz]

[...]

Lisa Campbell with the HFD arson investigative division shares the other side of the story. She says they have met with the DA's office every day on this case since this fire occurred. Only on Sunday did the DA's office accept charge of reckless bodily injury to a child with serious bodily injury.

[...]

The Houston Fire Department says day care provider Jessica Tata is half a world away in Nigeria. The fire department won't say if she is in custody, exactly how she fled the United States and how they know she is there.

[...]

HFD says it has now asked to the US Marshals to go to Nigeria and bring Tata home. They won't say how they found her there, or if she is in custody.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...rticle-7985674

Her leaving the country says, I'm guilty as hell, in my eyes.

[Mare]

They didn't just let her get away. LE had no reason to detain her or to confiscate her passports. They may not have known she was a national of Nigeria at the time this happened.

If she is already in American custody in Nigeria, it will cost at the very least an additional $300,000 to get her back to the US. It would be cheaper to have her stoned to death (and significantly more painful than going through a trial here).

EDIT: Of course she fled the country! Anyone with a chance to do so would do exactly that.

[SnowChicken]

She fled to Nigeria on Saturday.... Good job HPD!

It was HFD that screwed up. Talk about cowardly! I don't if this is true, but she apparently set a fire at her high school, when she was a student.
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/houst...d-2760684.html

[Obsolete]

It was HFD that screwed up. Talk about cowardly! I don't if this is true, but she apparently set a fire at her high school, when she was a student.
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/houst...d-2760684.html

I'm pretty sure the comment "good job HPD" was meant to be sarcastic.

[SnowChicken]

Former Classmate ‘Shocked’ Tata Was Allowed To Run Day Care Center
http://instantnewskaty.com/2011/03/01/19673

Jessica Tata was no good even back than.

[bev3683]

It seems the DA's office and HFD are in a pissing match over whose fault it is that she fled. There was a crimestoppers tip on Friday that she was preparing to leave the country. HFD told the DA's office but no one seemed to know what to do to make sure she didn't get away. I don't know either but it seems like they could have placed a hold on her passport or placed her in jail on a hold until charges could be filed.

This story just makes me angrier and angrier with each story that comes out. I have a feeling that she might take the coward's way out (beyond what cowardly action she has already taken) and commit suicide.

[Sister Iroz]

[...]

Lykos said at a news conference today that nine additional charges will be filed against Tata including six more charges of reckless bodily injury to a child and three charges of child endangerment.

The DA also issued an alert that Tata's brother, Ron Tata, was attempting to create a business called "Houston Benefit of Daycare Victims" to solicit money.

"I would urge the Tata family instead of... raising money and who knows where that money is going to and how it's going to be accounted for, that they have Miss Tata return to Harris County and face justice," Lykos said.

The prosecutor called Ron Tata's fund raising plans "reprehensible."

[...]

Dickerson, whose 2-year-old daughter Makayla is fighting for her life at Shriner's Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas, is enraged with Tata.

"She's not woman enough to come and be accountable for her actions. She's not woman enough to come and take what her punishment is. She has not a bit of remorse for the children," Dickerson said.

An affidavit released today showed that Tata was shopping at Target at the time the fire started.

"If she had to go to the store, why wouldn't she take them. She had a big van for all the kids to go," Dickerson said. "It's so much to give your trust to someone with a baby you've carried for nine months."

The 22-year-old mom was working as a technician at West Houston Medical Center last Thursday when two of the seven children injured in the fire came to the hospital.

Dickerson didn't know that the children were from the day care she used until she got a phone call from her 5-year-old daughter's school asking why no one had picked up the little girl after class.

Dickerson called "Jackie's Child Care," the day care run out of Tata's home.

"A man's voice answered and said, 'I'm so sorry. There's been a fire and all the children have been rushed to the hospital.' I just dropped to the floor," she said.

Dickerson rode by ambulance to another hospital to find her daughter, Makayla.

"She was sedated, but she squeezed my finger," Dickerson said.

She still didn't know where 3-year-old Shomari was. When she'd taken him to the day care that morning, he was wearing blue jeans, a blue and white flannel shirt and Jordan sneakers. Now, her little boy was unrecognizable from the burns.

"The whole ER -- all the doctors, all the nurses, three chaplains -- they closed the door and my heart just stopped. They said all the children have been claimed but one and we're 90 percent sure he's your son and we're so sorry he didn't make it," Dickerson said. "I told everyone you might as well kill me too. I'm not going to make it."

[...]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/houston-pro...3029646&page=3

[Harley_Tech]

One more story about the high school fires.
Link


R

[OMalley]

OMG that poor mother...All those parents, I feel so sorry for them. What a horrible way to lose a child.

I hope they catch that bitch soon! BTW, I don't think she's looking at enough jail time!

[Harley_Tech]

Long ass cell phone video (over 11 minutes) from the fire. Edit, embedding link didn't work. Use the one below.
http://www.khou.com/video/featured-v...117128683.html

Link in case the embedding does not work.

R

[Harley_Tech]

Harris County DA blasts Tata’s brother for setting up fund after day care fire.

Source

While I may agree with you Ms. DA, you might want to make sure your own house is in order. If you had processed the charges and kept this cunt from leaving the country, I'd be standing shoulder to shoulder with you condemning her brothers actions.

Get your own shit together there is your glass house.

R

[Sister Iroz]

She was spotted on a surveillance camera shopping at a Target store about a mile from her home at the time the fire began, according to an affidavit released today.

The video shows Tata entering the store at 1:09 p.m. and driving away at 1:24 p.m. The first 911 call about the fire was made at 1:29 p.m., according to the affidavit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-shopping.html

The brother of that woman charged in a deadly daycare fire, tells Eyewitness News his sister should return from Nigeria.

In an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News last night, Tata's brother told us he talked to Jessica the night before she was released from the hospital. Tata says he had actually been to the hospital and left. He says he did not get a call from his sister after she was discharged. He says the family does not know why she ran but they are now urging her to do the right thing.

"I talked to Jessica the night before she got released from the hospital. She told us she was going to stay with some friends and that she would call us if she needed anything," he said. "We reached out to her and told here we are going to be there for you. We are going to get you some help, whenever you are ready to open up and that was the last time I saw her. We love her. We urge her to do the right thing."

Ronald maintains the family doesn't know where she is, but would like for her to turn herself in.

Investigators say Jessica fled to Nigeria where both her parents are from. According to a Nigerian publication, her father is still in Nigeria and was supposed to come home last weekend, investigators say around the same time Tata fled.
[...]

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...cal&id=7989420

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Lawyer: Extradition for Houston day care fugitive may not be easy

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office says it’s confident it will be able to extradite a wanted day care operator back to Harris County, but according to an expert on extradition, it may not be easy.
[...]

Court documents reveal that Tata left the children alone and went to the grocery store. When she returned, the house was on fire.

Investigators said a stovetop was left on with a pot with oil in it on a burner. According to arson investigators, that was the source of the fire.

After the fire, investigators said Tata left the country. She could be in Nigeria.

The United States Marshal’s Office is following up on leads and creating a profile to try and find her.

If they do find her, one expert said getting her back to Harris County could take years.

“It’s not going to be easy if she decides she wants to challenge it, said Douglas McNabb, an international extradition lawyer.
[...]

The treaty between the United States and Nigeria is 76 years old. There are 27 extraditable crimes on the list. The ones that Tata is charged with are not included on that list.

“I would have thought we would have had a more current treaty,” said McNabb.

However, McNabb said the Texas charges don’t have to be exactly like the offenses that are set out in the extradition treaty.

Prosecutors could word the charges to fit one of the crimes on the list. Manslaughter, maliciously wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm, child stealing and abandoning are on the list.

“It depends on the language used in the charging document and the facts that are set out,” he said.

“The state could argue that she abandoned the children when she went to the store. I’m a defense attorney and if I were in Nigeria working with Nigerian counsel I would argue that she did not abandon the children, she left with intent to return.”

McNabb said, if Tata doesn’t fight extradition and is found soon, she could be back in Harris County in as few as 30 days. If she fights it, McNabb said it could take as many as two years. --That’s longer than some of the victims lived.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Lawye...117215203.html

[biteme]

It seems the DA's office and HFD are in a pissing match over whose fault it is that she fled. There was a crimestoppers tip on Friday that she was preparing to leave the country. HFD told the DA's office but no one seemed to know what to do to make sure she didn't get away. I don't know either but it seems like they could have placed a hold on her passport or placed her in jail on a hold until charges could be filed.

This story just makes me angrier and angrier with each story that comes out. I have a feeling that she might take the coward's way out (beyond what cowardly action she has already taken) and commit suicide.

Doubt suicide, more likely she'll be sending out emails about the millions you'll get if you send her thousands, she is from Nigeria after all

[Chaindrive]

From DV's link:

Prosecutors could word the charges to fit one of the crimes on the list. Manslaughter, maliciously wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm, child stealing and abandoning are on the list.

Looks like it's happening:

Court documents made public Wednesday show prosecutors have filed three new charges of abandoning a child against Jessica Tata.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7453124.html

[walkingeagle]

From DV's link:

Prosecutors could word the charges to fit one of the crimes on the list. Manslaughter, maliciously wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm, child stealing and abandoning are on the list.

Looks like it's happening:

Not disagreeing with you personally @biteme, but this is nothing but fertilizer! If there was an abandonment issue on the line here why isn't HPD thrown into the bus path also? HFD, unless I miss my guess, has no power to arrest anyone. Aside from presenting their evidence in the arson part of this, they do not come out as a villian in my mind.

And this whole process seems to be derailed by their game of rewording their issue here. You don't reword the charge(s) to suit your needs! This case is screwed!

[tmdgirl]

If they want to reword the charges, why not make it manslaughter? Or murder even, since she basically did murder those innocent children by her actions.

[Mare]

And this whole process seems to be derailed by their game of rewording their issue here. You don't reword the charge(s) to suit your needs! This case is screwed!

The treaty between the United States and Nigeria is 76 years old. There are 27 extraditable crimes on the list. The ones that Tata is charged with are not included on that list.

It sounds to me like they didn't re-word the charges, but rather added additional charges which would allow for a speedier extradition from Nigeria to the US.

US government cannot just take a plane to Nigeria, snatch a person and bring them back (in theory). This all has to be done diplomatically which means following the treaty between Nigeria and US. And FYI updating treaty every year or before it's expiration date is a waste of time. They are usually updated every 100 years or so (at least Immigration ones are)

[walkingeagle]

It sounds to me like they didn't re-word the charges, but rather added additional charges which would allow for a speedier extradition from Nigeria to the US.

Adding charges that were not there to start with, just to ship her back, is the same thing! It's all a word game! I'm not sure how well off Texas is financially, but this is going to bring that issue out as well!

[Sister Iroz]

The Houston Fire Department shot back at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office Wednesday, releasing a detailed chronology of events in their investigation of a fatal day care fire in west Houston.

The move came a day after District Attorney Pat Lykos said any allegations that her department moved too slowly in issuing a warrant for day care operator Jessica Tata were "outrageous."

Tata is facing 10 criminal charges in connection with the fire, which killed four children and injured three. But investigators said Tata fled to Nigeria on Saturday – a day before a warrant was issued for her arrest.

"The events of February 24, 2001, will, for the rest of our lives, have a profound impact on those Houston firefighters who were called to last Thursday’s day care fire. We share with the families of the seven children a deep sense of sadness and a desire to do what is best to bring about some sense of closure," the HFD statement read.

According to HFD, arson investigators arrived at the scene of the fire in the 2800 block of Crest Park at 3:03 p.m. Thursday to determine the origin of the blaze.

When investigators first interviewed Tata, they said she told them she’d put a pot of oil on the stove and gone to the bathroom. When she returned, she said she couldn’t see because of all the smoke.

But before investigators could transport Tata to arson headquarters for a more in-depth interview, she said she needed medical attention and was transported to the hospital.

Investigators said their efforts to interview Tata were further delayed while she received treatment.

Once they were able to interview her, investigators said Tata complained of having amnesia and wouldn’t answer their questions coherently.

Meanwhile, HFD said the 911 caller and witnesses told on-scene investigators that Tata had driven up to the day care alone that afternoon immediately before the fire was discovered.

Witnesses told investigators they did not remember seeing any other employee exit the building after the fire started, and they didn’t see any adults being rescued by firefighters.

According to HFD, investigators first contacted the Harris County District Attorney’s Office at 5 p.m. Thursday. Investigators wanted to obtain a warrant to search Tata’s car. They said they saw a bag on the front seat of the day care van that may have contained groceries, and they were hoping to find a sales receipt so they could identify where the purchases were made and possibly obtain surveillance video from the store.

But investigators said the DA’s office declined to issue a warrant, saying there was not probable cause to do so.

HFD said the DA’s office suggested that if Tata had gone to the store, she might have left another adult at the facility with the children.

Though they were not able to get the warrant, HFD said investigators did find a plastic bag with an unopened fruit drink and a receipt from a nearby store. The receipt had a time stamp from 1:18 p.m. Thursday – just moments before firefighters were notified about the blaze.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, HFD said investigators obtained surveillance video from the store that showed Tata arriving and leaving near the time when the fire was reported.

At 2:15 p.m. on Friday, February 25, HFD said their investigators contacted the DA’s office for the second time, saying they thought they had probable cause that Tata had left the children unattended.

According to HFD, the assistant district attorney they spoke with said she would discuss their findings with a chief assistant district attorney and get back to them.

But after that meeting, HFD said the assistant district attorney said no charges would be accepted and asked investigators to interview Tata to confirm if there were any other employees present that day.

When an HFD arson investigator and HPD Homicide investigator contacted Tata, she told them she’d hired an attorney and didn’t want to give a statement without the attorney present.

Investigators said they re-interviewed witnesses to clarify discrepancies and checked state employment records for the day care. They said, according to the State of Texas, Tata was the only employee on record at the facility.

Investigators said they also received a Crime Stoppers tip that Tata might leave for Nigeria.

HFD said investigators again contacted the DA’s office to relay that information Friday, but the chief assistant district attorney said since Tata was a U.S. citizen and had been here a long time, the tip was not valid. The DA’s office again denied charges.

Investigators said the assistant district attorney asked them to interview all of the parents of the victims to get information about any other employees at the day care and to obtain information from work force. The DA’s office also asked that investigators verify with Family and Protective Services Child Care Licensing – a state agency – that Tata was the only employee.

But HFD said since the facility was a registered home day care and not a commercial day care, there was no license issued – only a permit.

Investigators said they weren’t able to contact the parents.

At 4:30 p.m. Friday, HFD said the assistant district attorney contacted investigators, saying the case was attracting media attention and asking if there was any new information.

Investigators said there was no new information, but they asked again if charges would be accepted. But HFD said the DA’s office denied charges.

On Saturday, February 26, HFD investigators canvassed the neighborhood where the day care was located to verify if residents had seen any other employees at the facility, and the residents said they hadn’t.

Investigators were able to contact and get statements from two of the victims’ families, but they didn’t contact the DA’s office, since the other families had not yet been located.

Then, on Sunday, February 27, between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., HFD investigators said they spoke with the DA’s office for a fifth time.

They said when they relayed all the new information, and the chief assistant district attorney of special crimes denied charges and asked that they interview every parent to see if they’d seen any other employee at the day care.

HFD said investigators were able to contact all the families, and the families all denied ever seeing any employee besides Tata.

When that information was relayed to the DA’s office, sometime between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, HFD said charges were accepted.

[...]

http://www.wfaa.com/news/texas-news/117253578.html

[Bohring]

It's one of those stories where I have so many WTF comments and swear words that would add up to a useless post.

I worry about leaving my son alone in the house when he's napping to take out the trash. To toss the dogs some leftovers. To change the clothes in the laundry (our garage is detached and in the back of the property). He's alseep and I'm worried to take a shower. I can't imagine what the hell this woman was thinking by leaving the house to go buy goddamn groceries. And why was oil on a burner? Was she about to make lunch and then realized she needed some shit and so she ran to the store while the oil heated up? I just don't get it.

I don't understand how she was able to flee the country. Like @Nell said, why wasn't her passport flagged?

[Dark Star]

It sounds like the HFD did more investigating on this crime then the HPD. Idk. Twice they try and get something going with the DA and twice they were denied. Fuck. That sucks.

That bitch ain't coming back and if she does, I will be surprised.

[walkingeagle]

If they want to reword the charges, why not make it manslaughter? Or murder even, since she basically did murder those innocent children by her actions.

This is not directed at you @tmdgirl, but your post is exactly what I'm talking about. If it suited their purpose, they would charge her with bestiality, incest, perversion that are not allowed in the legal handbooks, and who knows what else. If they can't make the facts fit the crime, they are toast! They are going to PISS AWAY over a million on this game!