A North Texas mother faces up to 10 years in prison for neglecting her disabled adult daughter and keeping her in a large crib in filthy conditions.
The punishment phase continues this week for 51-year-old Robin Payne of Wichita Falls. She pleaded guilty Friday to exploitation of a person with a disability.
Prosecutor John Gillespie said Payne's daughter was 25 when deputies found her in 2013 while serving an unrelated warrant for someone else at the home.
Gillespie said the daughter -- who had been born premature -- is blind, mentally disabled and makes sounds to communicate.
Wichita County Sheriff's Office investigators took the stand Monday and testified about finding the special needs woman in the home alone, along with dogs and hybrid wolves in cages.
They testified that the home smelled of urine and feces. One of the deputies said there was no food in the house that looked edible and there was mold in the broken refrigerator, but there was cold beer in a chest.
The pediatrician who treated Payne's daughter for more than a decade also took the stand and testified that the woman was malnourished because she was basically on a chocolate milk diet.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"It was just about, probably, the worst thing. I can honestly say that I will probably take those images to the grave with me, to see a human being in that condition," said retired Wichita County Deputy Jerry Cox.
Payne received $710 in monthly government benefits but was not providing medical care or other necessities for her daughter.
Gillespie said the daughter, who was placed under the authority of Texas Adult Protective Services, now lives in a residential facility.
