MEANEST STEPMOTHER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE

Dallas Area Woman Set Fire to Stepdaughter's Face for 'Yelling'

By Vanessa Brown

NBCDFW.com
May 31, 2019

Grand Prairie police say a woman is free on bond after she intentionally set her 5-year-old stepdaughter's face on fire as punishment for yelling.

Dalia Jimenez, 20, is charged with felony injury to a child after police say on May 11, she poured rubbing alcohol on the girl's face and then lit it on fire.

On May 13, officers responded to a report that a child had been burned.

The girl was taken to Children's Medical Center in Dallas for evaluation and later transferred to Parkland where she was treated for first- and second-degree burns. She has since been released.

"The burns extended on both sides of her cheeks and just a little bit on down to below her jawline. Small burns on her shoulder as well," Grand Prairie police Det. Greg Parker.

Parker said Jimenez initially told him the injury was the result of an accident involving a candle, but said he noticed inconsistencies in her story after he interviewed the girl.

"During that interview the girl did make a statement that her stepmother had burned her and had also subsequently hit her with a belt several times prior," he said.

The evening of the incident, Child Protective Services removed two children from the apartment Jimenez shares with her husband -- the couple's 1-year-old son, and the victim.

Parker said Jimenez confessed on May 24 to dousing the girl and setting her face on fire as punishment for yelling.

"I asked her if she was remorseful and she said she was," he said.

Jimenez was arrested May 29 and was released May 30 after posting $20,000 bond. One of her bond conditions prohibits contact with her children.

Parker said the child's father was not home at the time and is not suspected to be involved. He said it appeared the father believed the story his wife told him.

As for Jimenez, this wasn't her first run-in with CPS. According to Parker, the agency investigated her last year after the girl suffered a spiral fracture in one of her arm's. Based on statements that supported her, she was never charged with a crime.