SAN ANTONIO — Serious allegations are being made after two people were arrested in connection with a critical child abuse case that's left a tiny girl who is not quite two years old with serious burns.
Family members and neighbors are saying they reported concerns about the girl and her five siblings for months, but no action was taken to save the children.
Sharleen Pope lived just a few yards away from the family until a few months ago.
Pope said she knows family members reported their concerns to the state abuse line numerous times and that a representative of the agency did visit the home.
“Come on! You see their living standards! You see the babies. You see....just...it could have been avoided,” Pope said.
Pope said living conditions in the mobile home occupied were so bad that the home was demolished when the family moved out.
Discussing the abuse case, Sheriff Javier Salazar said, "Disgusting is the correct word. It's an understatement. I can't think of a more appropriate word at this point."
Salazar called the RV where the couple was living on a remote rural parcel on Sulphur Springs Road in south east Bexar County deplorable.
"Based on the torture the baby endured, I wish they could be charged with more. I hope the baby makes it," Salazar said.
Salazar said Amanda Mann and Dustin Lawrence are both jailed on multiple charges after their toddler daughter was admitted to the hospital with critical burns.
The mother told investigators boiling water accidentally spilled on the girl.
But family members and neighbors say the troubles for the girl, and her siblings began long ago.
Pope said, “CPS came out here to see where the baby was born and they didn't see the living conditions then?”
Pope said she has known the Mann family for decades and lived just a few yards away from the couple and Amanda's mom.
“The mom and the sister tried like crazy to get some help,” Pope said.
A spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services cited confidentiality rules, and would only confirm there was no open case on the family when the current report was made.
Neighbors claim Sheriff’s deputies had made several visits to the mobile home park where the family lived over time, but a spokesman said none of the calls to the park were made in reference to the couple.
They said now the injured girl and her siblings have been ordered into the State's custody by a judge.
Online court records indicate Amanda Mann is scheduled to appear in court on December 6th. Dustin Michael Lawrence is scheduled for his next appearance on December 13.