North Texas therapist accused of throwing autistic child against wall arrested in Lubbock
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS – A therapist accused of throwing a 7-year-old non-verbal autistic child against a wall has been arrested in Lubbock.
Ashley Nicole Moreno, 31, an employee at a North Texas behavioral health center under investigation for child abuse, was taken into custody by Lubbock police on Thursday.
Police on Wednesday arrested Kiara Henry, 34, the owner of ABA Interactive Behavioral Therapy, on charges of failure to report.
CBS News Texas confirmed the facility is not only the center of a police investigation but also at the center of a lawsuit by that autistic child's family. The family claims the facility was supposed to be a place of learning, but instead became a place of fear.
According to the lawsuit, one of those students came home with a visible scratch mark on his face back on June 20. The lawsuit says the behavioral center told the family their non-verbal autistic child had a behavioral episode and also said he inflicted the scratch on himself.
The boy's parents claim ABA's owner would not let them see the video of the incident because it was against the facility's policy.
The lawsuit goes on to say, the parents were able to watch a copy of the video, which was leaked to them by another employee. The video shows a therapist "picking up the child by his collar. The video then shows the therapist pushing the boy into a corner, stepping on another autistic child in the process, and throwing the boy against a wall with her hands around his neck.
The family's lawyer, Wesley Gould, said police now have evidence of the therapist abusing other children.
"The fact that it happened was disgusting, but on top of that the fact that this establishment covered it up, after knowing what it happened and brushed under the rug, and the police department found other cases where this therapist harmed other children and she never reported it. It's a wholesale of just level of bad acting and anybody that goes to that facility," Gould claims.
CBS News Texas did knock on ABA's door during normal operating hours, but the facility was closed and no one answered.
Gould also added that this is very hard for the family and the incident will leave emotional damage on the child.
"If I was the parents at this young child, I don't know what I would do," Gould says, "But more importantly outrage, the fear the more importantly, the absolute mistrust of a system that's failed them and affected. This type of case is shocking to everyone's conscience, and I think that the community wants answers and these people held accountable."