An Arizona grandmother has been indicted on abuse charges for the treatment of her 13-year-old granddaughter.
A Maricopa County grand jury charged Virginia Lujan, 55, with two counts of child abuse, two counts of tampering with evidence, one count of tampering with a witness, and three counts of contributeing to the dependency of a child, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said.
As CrimeOnline reported, Lujan called Tempe Police to her home on January 21 and reported the teen unresponsive Officers found her lying on the living room floor with “marks and bruising on multiple parts of her body.”
The girl was taken to a hospital where she later died. The girl suffered from a rare form of epilepsy and functioned at the level of a 3-year-old.
A bunk bed had been transformed into “a makeshift enclosure” where the girl was kept for long periods of time, the county attorney’s office said. The home was filled with “unsanitary conditions.”
“The best way to describe it, it was a bunk bed, but the lower bed of that bunk was not there. And the bunk bed around the bottom was surrounded by baby cages and makeshift bars,” police spokesperson Jessica Ells said at the time..
Lujan is being held on a $500,000 secured appearance bond.
The girl’s mother was initially arrested at the same time as Lujan, but she was later released “pending charges,” according to KSAZ.
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[Featured image: Virginia Lujan/Tempe Police Department]
