Texico women face numerous charges of child abuse

Jayme Kushman, 37, and Jaime Sena, 29, both of Texico face 23 charges of child abuse after authorities discovered children in their care in abusive conditions.

Sgt. Gerardo Hernandez, criminal investigator with the New Mexico State Police, detailed in an arrest affidavit Monday the conditions in which the children were found – they they had been beaten, starved and chained to beds.

Both women were in the Curry County Adult Detention Center on Tuesday.

The five children, described as Sena’s children, Kushman’s sister’s children and a foster child, were subjected to wearing alarms and paddlings that left bruises for getting into the refrigerator.

An investigation into the home began July 22, records show. Among a number of things observed was a locked and chained gate inside the door to the home in the 200 block of Curry Road 8.5, plus an unflushed toilet full of urine and feces.

The children were taken to state Children, Youth and Family offices in Clovis and were questioned. That’s where state personnel heard more stories about the children going hungry and how they learned to steal food, the affidavit showed.

One of the children, a 14-year-old female, spoke of how she feels ashamed of herself when she is chained.

Videos of the children in various negative conditions were discovered on cell phones in the home.

State police interviewed Sena and she described how she and Kushman were no longer together, that Kushman had moved out of the home.

Police asked Sena how she felt about some of the children being chained to the wall. She told investigators she “felt it was wrong but understood why it was done so they couldn’t get out.”