Spring Mother Charged After Waiting Days to Seek Help for Beaten Toddler, Fearing Boyfriend Would Go to Jail
Jazmin Cisneros is accused of watching her boyfriend Gerardo Gonzalez beat her 2-year-old daughter over several days without seeking help, telling investigators she feared he would be arrested. The girl is not expected to survive.
A Spring mother told Harris County investigators she held off calling for help for her injured 2-year-old daughter because she was afraid her boyfriend would go to jail. By the time the family finally sought care, the girl was unresponsive and, according to court records, not expected to survive.
Jazmin Cisneros, 28, was booked into the Harris County Jail on Tuesday and charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. She appeared before a Harris County criminal law hearing officer that night and had bond set at $500,000. Her boyfriend, Gerardo Gonzalez, 29, was arrested days earlier on the same charge and is being held on $1 million bond.
According to court records, the abuse unfolded over roughly a week. On Saturday, Aug. 1, Cisneros noticed visible injuries on her daughter, and Gonzalez admitted to hitting the girl in the head multiple times. Investigators believe that is when the girl suffered a skull fracture. Despite the injuries, Cisneros allegedly continued to let Gonzalez have access to the child.
"Despite obvious injuries that you observed the date of and the day after on this complainant, you continued to allow this co-defendant, your boyfriend, to have access to this child, stating that you fear that he might go to jail if you reported," the hearing officer said during Cisneros' probable cause hearing, according to court records.
Five days later, on Thursday, Aug. 6, Gonzalez allegedly struck the girl again, this time in the chest, lower back and buttocks, and stepped on her pelvis. Investigators believe that assault caused a lacerated liver and a broken pelvis. It was only after the girl became unresponsive that Cisneros and Gonzalez left their home on Rendezvous Court in Spring and drove roughly three minutes to a gas station on Cypresswood Drive.
Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constables happened to be at the station on an unrelated call when the couple arrived around 8:20 p.m. and began lifesaving measures until paramedics arrived. The girl was rushed to a hospital, where doctors found multiple life-threatening injuries, then flown to another hospital for surgery.
Gonzalez was arrested the night of Aug. 7. Court records state he admitted to striking the girl in the head repeatedly, along with the chest, lower back and buttocks, and to stepping on her pelvis. At his probable cause hearing, held privately out of concern for his safety in custody, Harris County magistrate judge Temple Ramming set his bond at $1 million and had him brought into the courtroom alone.
"The reason that you're by yourself here today is that we don't want anybody else to know what you've been charged with, because this is the kind of place where if they hear what you're charged with, you can get seriously hurt," Ramming told Gonzalez, according to a recording of the hearing.
Ramming, who has practiced criminal law for 15 years, called the allegations among the worst he has encountered. Records show Gonzalez has multiple prior arrests but no convictions.
A warrant was issued for Cisneros following Gonzalez's arrest, and investigators processed the Rendezvous Court home as part of the case. She was taken into custody Tuesday and charged the same day.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office said as of Wednesday morning the girl remained in critical condition. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote on social media that the case is among the hardest his deputies handle.
"Our thoughts are with this young toddler as she continues to fight for her life," the sheriff wrote. "Cases involving children are among the most heartbreaking first responders encounter, and we remain committed to seeking justice on her behalf."
Both Cisneros and Gonzalez remain in the Harris County Jail on their respective bonds. Neither has entered a plea. The sheriff's office said its investigators are continuing to piece together the full timeline of the girl's injuries, and additional charges are possible depending on the outcome of her medical treatment. No court date has been announced for either defendant.
