SEALY, Texas – A Southeast Texas couple was in jail Thursday after authorities found a half-dozen children locked and unsupervised in a tool shed behind an unlicensed day care center.

State officials said the children were surrounded by lawn equipment, gasoline and insecticide when they were found Wednesday morning after a child welfare inspector responded to a complaint that an illegal day care center was being operated at the home.

The children in the shed were among 14, ranging in age from 3 months to 5 years, being cared for by the couple, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter said. They legally could care for only three children, she said.

Police found the remaining children hidden in the house and at another residence next door.

Paramedics examined all the children and found they were unharmed. Parents were summoned to pick them up.

Austin County District Attorney Travis Koehn said Marietta Patek, 55, was charged with six counts of child endangerment. Her husband, Freddie Patek, 47, faced an evidence tampering charge.

Bond was set at $10,000 for each. They have no attorney of record to comment on their behalf, jail officials said Thursday.

"They're the sweetest people," a neighbor, Christalynn Bell, told Houston television station KRIV. "They always think about the children first. That's why right now, it's totally mindboggling."

The case remains under investigation by Sealy police and state child welfare authorities.

Sealy is about 45 miles west of Houston.

The Associated Press

Print

Create A Screen Name

Screen names can only consist of letters and numbers.
Your screen name will appear to everyone.
NOTE: You cannot change, delete,
or edit your screen name once you hit "Save".

---

Leave Comment

Having problems seeing comments?

Close

Supported Browsers

• Internet Explorer 7+
• FireFox 3+
• Safari

If you are using Internet Explorer 7, make sure Phishing Filter is turned off by going to Tools / Phishing Filter / Turn Off Automatic Website Checking.

If you are using Internet Explorer 8, make sure InPrivate Filtering is turned off and InPrivate Filtering data has been cleared. To turn off InPrivate Filtering go to Tools / InPrivate Filtering Settings, select the "off" button and click "OK".

To clear InPrivate Filtering data

• Go to Tools / Internet Options
• Click on the "Delete" button in the center of the General tab.
• Make sure "Preserve Favorites website data" is unchecked.
• Make sure "InPrivate Filtering data" is checked
• Click the "Delete" button.
• Click the "OK" button to exit the internet options window.
• Refresh the page

Guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, but for the sake of all readers, please refrain from the use of obscenities, personal attacks or racial slurs. All comments are subject to our terms of service and may be removed. Repeat offenders may lose commenting privileges.

You must be logged in to contribute. Log in | Register Now!

You are logged in as screenname | Log Out

You are logged in, but do not have a "screen" name. Create a Screen Name