Sini Ann Mathews, the mother of a North Texas toddler who died under suspicious circumstances, successfully argued for a bond reduction in her child endangerment case Monday after spending the holiday weekend in jail.
During Monday's hearing, Dallas County Criminal District Court Judge Stephanie Fargo reduced Sini Mathews' bond from $250,000 to $100,000 while also requiring she be put under house arrest and forced to wear an ankle monitor.
Richardson police argued Mathews was a flight risk and said before she was arrested she asked her pediatrician for shot records so that her 3-year-old biological daughter could "go to India." Fargo also required Mathews surrender her passport.
Mathews was arrested earlier this month after investigators said she and her husband, Wesley Mathews, left their 3-year-old adopted daughter Sherin Mathews at home, without adult supervision, while they went to dinner with their other daughter on Oct. 6.
Sherin, Wesley said, was being punished for not drinking her milk and was alive when they returned home about 90 minutes later.
As a result of that incident, Sini was arrested, charged with child endangerment and ordered held on $250,000 bond.
Sini Mathews' attorney, Mitchell Nolte, said the normal bond schedule for someone with no priors was just $500 and that his client's bond should be much lower.
Wesley Mathews, meanwhile, remains jailed on a felony charge of injury to a child.
On Oct. 7, Wesley Mathews called police and reported Sherin missing. In a story he would later change, Wesley originally told police Sherin disappeared overnight after he ordered her to stand outside at about 3 a.m. for not drinking her milk. When he returned, Wesley said she had disappeared and that her location was unknown.
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The girl's body was found in a drainage culvert two weeks after her father reported her missing.
Only then did the girl's father change his story to say that he "physically assisted" his daughter drink the milk and that she choked and died -- after which, he moved her body.
Sini Mathews, who has maintained her innocence in Sherin's death, said she was asleep when the incident happened overnight with Wesley.
Sherin Mathews' Death: The Investigation Continues
The couple's biological 3-year-old daughter was placed into foster care after her sister disappeared. Nov. 20, officials with Child Protective Services confirmed to NBC 5 that she had been turned over to the custody of family members in the Houston area.
Sini and Wesley Mathews next have a custody hearing for their biological daughter scheduled for Nov. 29.
NBC 5's Maria Guerrero contributed to this report.
