By HARVEY RICE and KEVIN MORAN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
GALVESTON -- A Galveston County grand jury will decide today whether to indict an Arkansas man accused of burning his 2-month-old daughter's face and left hand by putting her in a motel microwave oven.
Joshua Royce Mauldin, 19, faces indictment for felony injury to a child, which carries a maximum sentence of from five to 99 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. Mauldin, who police said claimed he was sent by God to be a preacher in Galveston, remained in the Galveston County Jail today.
He was arrested by Galveston police around 3 p.m. Tuesday and booked on a felony child injury charge three hours later.
His bond was set at $250,000.
Mauldin is accused of putting his daughter in a microwave last Wednesday.
She was hospitalized early Thursday and yesterday underwent a second skin graft performed by University of Texas Medical Branch physicians at Galveston's Shriners Burns Hospital, Galveston police Sgt. Annie Almendarez said.
A UTMB medical history search conducted today indicated that the Mauldin case is one of only four known in which a child is alleged to have been injured by direct exposure to microwave oven radiation.
Mauldin called police early Thursday and reported the child had suffered burns when he stumbled on a carpet and spilled coffee on her, Almendarez said today.
The infant is listed in critical but stable condition, Almendarez said.
Police are trying to determine whether Mauldin's wife participated in the alleged microwave incident, Almendarez said. She declined to reveal the wife's name.
She said police believe they know why Mauldin allegedly placed his daughter in the microwave. Investigators will not reveal their theory until the grand jury decides whether to indict him, she said.
Mauldin, of Warren, Ark., was staying with his wife and mother at the Quality Inn Hotel on Seawall Boulevard on Wednesday , the night he is accused of placing the child in the microwave oven, Almendarez said.
"They looked like any tourists you would see in Galveston," she said.
Mauldin told police that he was working at a fast food restaurant in Warren when "he was called to be minister by God" and decided to begin his ministry in Galveston, Almendarez said.
The family had arrived in Galveston Wednesday and were looking for a permanent residence, she said.
Almendarez said medical evidence and a tip from a family member led police to believe that Mauldin placed the child in the microwave oven. She declined to reveal the name of the family member. The child was in the microwave for up to 20 seconds, she said.
Mauldin is in the jail's medical unit under observation as a precautionary measure, a jail spokesman said. Mauldin is being checked at least every 15 minutes although he is not listed as a suicide risk.
UTMB burns surgeon Dr. Art Sanford said today he has no experience with injuries to humans of any age from direct exposure to microwaves.
"No one here does," Sanford said.
Burns from substances heated in microwave ovens and spilled on people are not unusual in emergency rooms, he said.
But an extensive computer search of medical literature from recent decades revealed only three instances in which children were believed to have been burned in microwave ovens. One of those is a case from last year in Ohio in which the mother was accused of killing her baby in the microwave, he said.
The others apparently occurred in the 1980s and were alluded to in a Journal of Trauma article, Sanford said.
The literature search turned up only one research effort to determine the effects of microwave exposure on living pig flesh, Sanford said.
The available report indicated that skin and muscle, which have considerable water content, are burned during short, direct microwave exposure, Sanford said. Fat, which contains less water than other tissue layers, was relatively damage-free, the research reported indicated.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4808453.html
Bookmarks