A Collin County woman has been sentenced to spend several decades in prison for sadistically torturing a young woman, forcing her into a dog kennel, and burning her with boiling water while living off the inheritance of a different woman needing constant care.
According to Collin County District Attorney's Office, 37-year-old Alicia Calderon was sentenced in court Tuesday to serve 75 years for a first-degree felony offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and causing serious bodily injury to a household member.
The attorney's office said in 2019, a 24-year-old woman moved in with Calderon and her family in their Wylie, Texas, trailer. The agreement was that the victim would keep the house clean, care for Calderon's children, and care for a disabled older woman in exchange for a free place to live.
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Officials said the living arrangement worked well initially, but the situation started deteriorating several months later. Calderon began mistreating the victim, first by taking away her phone then later by restricting her food and her movements in and out of the trailer.
Prosecutors said Calderon started locking the woman in the room with the older woman, whose condition had severely declined. The victim lost over half her body weight until she no longer had the strength to care for the older woman.
In July 2021, Calderon caught the victim sneaking food from the house, and as punishment, she locked the woman in a dog crate and poured boiling water on her, burning her legs. Later that year, during an argument, Calderon poured a pot of boiling water on the victim, giving her more severe burns on her arms, chest, and back. Calderon did not let the victim get medical treatment.
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The DA said on Feb. 1, 2022, another household member let the victim borrow his phone, and she reached out to her stepfather for the first time in two years via Facebook Messenger. After telling him she needed help and was locked in a room, her stepfather called 911 and went to the trailer.
Shortly after Collin County deputies arrived, authorities said they had to remove stacked stones from the door to help the victim escape. They quickly discovered that she lost about 68 pounds, had a shaved head, and was covered with second and third-degree burns. When deputies found the older woman in the trailer, her condition was so bad that they initially thought she was dead.
The abused victim spent several weeks in the hospital due to her injuries and malnourishment. Prosecutors said she underwent multiple surgeries, including skin grafts, to recover from her severe burns. As of Tuesday, the victim testified that her nerve damage has yet to heal.
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A jury found Calderon guilty of her charge. During the punishment phase of the trial, prosecutors showed evidence that Calderon spent $78,000 of the older woman's recently received inheritance within three months and had been cashing her social security checks for several years.
"We hope and pray this jury's sentence will allow the victim to further heal from all the deep physical and emotional wounds inflicted by this defendant," District Attorney Greg Willis said after sentencing.
