Felony Charge for Kindergarten Teacher Who Snatched a Kid by the Arm | Crime Alert 4PM 10.14.25

A kindergarten teacher in Anna, Texas, is arrested after police say she injured a 5-year-old student in class. A Malta, New York woman is sent to jail after a littering call leads to felony charges in Stillwater. Drew Nelson reports.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alart hourly update, Breaking crime News Now. I'm Drew Nelson.
A kindergarten teacher and Anna, Texas, is arrested after police
say she injured a five year old girl in class.
Investigators say michaeleb Beth Priest, a teacher at Hendrix's Elementary school,
grabbed the child by the arm, hard enough to leave
visible marks. The girl's mother, Danielle Broomfield, told our TV

(00:20):
news partners at Fox four Dallas that the incident happened
in front of the entire class. They looked like fingers.
There was three defined marks on their heartbroke you know,
I mean, especially when they're saying that, you know, she
told them the teacher did it. She said. Another teacher
noticed that bruises at recess and immediately took the girl
to the office to report it. Broomfield said she was

(00:42):
told her daughter tried to grab back of paper from
another child when Priests snatched her up by the arm
and put her in a timeout chair. Broomfield says she
shared her story to warn other parents. Anna ISD says
Priest was removed from the classroom the same day and
placed on administrative leave. She is no longer employed. By
the district on Saturday. She was arrested and charged with

(01:04):
injury to a child, which is a third degree felony.
Public records show Priest has no violent criminal history. Texas
Education Agency records list her as holding an intern level
teaching certificate issued in March. The Collin County Sheriff's Office
says the investigation is still active. Priest has since bonded
out of jail. More Crime and Justice news After this,

(01:33):
two Texas prison officers are arrested after an inmate dies
trapped inside a burning cell at the Bill Clements Unit
near Amarillo. Former Sergeant Crystal Janelle West, age thirty nine,
is charged with manslaughter and former Lieutenant William Eugene Romero,
aged thirty three, is charged with criminally negligent homicide. Both
were walked off duty on Sunday and booked into the

(01:55):
Potter County Jail. West's bond is set at two hundred
thousand dollars. Romero's is a one hundred and fifty k.
Both are being held in protective custody. An internal source
with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told KFDA the
incident began when an inmate on the extended cell block,
which is described as a prison within a prison, set
fire to a mattress. The inmate ignored orders to place

(02:18):
his hands through the food slot so officers could restrain him.
West called for her supervisor, Romero, told her not to
open the slot, the source said quote. He said, it's
just going to stay shut. We're not opening it. It's
a safety risk, the source said. West later opened the
trace slot and saw a thick smoke pouring out of
the eight x ten cell. She told the inmate she

(02:38):
would not pull him out or open the door, the
source said quote. She refused to help in any way.
When West returned about an hour later, the inmate was unresponsive.
Staff entered the cell around three nineteen am and tried
to revive him, but he was pronounced dead less than
one hour later. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice released
a statement saying it is working with the Office of

(02:58):
Inspector General and this Special Prosecution Unit quote, so that
those staff who allegedly failed to act will be held
accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The victim's name has not been released. Both officers have
been fired as the case remains under investigation. A multi
New York woman is sent to the Group W bench
after a littering call leads to felony charges in Stillwater.

(03:21):
Deputies say Crystal Westcott, age thirty eight, was arrested Friday
morning after they responded to a complaint about litter along
Route nine p. When officers arrived, they didn't find a
garbage dump or a half ton of refuse, but they
did find Westcott, whom they say was violating an order
of protection. The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office said Wescott failed
to stay away from the protected person named in the

(03:44):
court order. That violation upgraded her charge to first degree
criminal contempt, which is a Class E felonine because she
had a prior conviction for the same offense within five years.
The arrest wasn't related to the littering complaint, but came
out of the investigation. Deputy say Wescott was processed, arraigned
in Maltatown court, and released on her own recognissance. Court

(04:05):
records show the prior case happened earlier this year, when
Wescott was charged under similar circumstances after showing up near
a residence she was ordered to avoid Jeffrey Dean McDaniel
as one of the fbis most wanted for fleeing after
allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a thirteen year old girl
in California. Investigators say McDaniel, now fifty eight, repeatedly assaulted

(04:26):
a young female relative in Placer County in September of
nineteen ninety eight. He fled with her. The girl was
found in Mexico in two thousand. She told authorities McDaniel
took her across California and Nevada before reaching Mexico, where
he continued to assault her. She got pregnant. On February
twenty eighth of two thousand and one, Placer County issued
a warrant for McDaniel on charges of custody deprivation. Two

(04:49):
months later, a federal warrant. McDaniel may still be in Mexico,
could be working in the computer industry or involved in
tattoo artistry. He's white, five feet eleven about one hundred
ninety five, with brown hair and brown eyes. Tattoos including skulls, roses,
a solar system on his left forearm, an Egyptian pharaoh
on his right biceps muscle, and a green wedding band

(05:10):
tattooed over the word Michelle. He also has blacked out
swastikas on both arms and the name Shelley above his
right knee. Anyone with information is asked to contact the
FBI or the nearest American embassy or consulate. You can
call eight hundred, call FBI, or tips dot FBI dot gov.
If you want to remain anonymous. For the latest crime
injustice news, follow Crime Alert hourly update on your favorite

(05:32):
podcast app with this crime Alert Andrew Nelson