Humble Woman Charged With Child Endangerment

HUMBLE, TX — The images are graphic, shocking, and damning. They show an infant being slapped, having a lighter held to his fingers, and with a plastic bag stuffed in his little mouth. What's even more shocking is that his mother is charged with the abuse against the boy, Jaiden.

Janelle Peterkin, 23, who resides in Humble, was charged this week with child endangerment, but was released from jail after posting a $15,000 bond. Another shocking aspect of this story? The woman who discovered the videos and reported them to the Humble Police Department said that at first authorities did nothing. Their inaction prompted her to post the videos online, after which she said she was inundated with calls from law enforcement agencies around the nation.

(Want to get daily updates about news and other events going on in your area? Sign up for the free Houston Patch morning newsletter.)

“After I put the post up, someone from New York Police Department called me and from all different states, police were calling,” Ra'Neicha Broadnax said. “Then a detective called me from the Humble Police Department asking where Janelle was.”

Broadnax, who lives in Virginia, is Jaiden's aunt, and discovered the videos — 64 in all — on her brother's phone. He is Jaiden's father, and had blocked Peterkin on his cell phone. When he was arrested last week, his girlfriend unblocked Peterkin's number and the videos and messages began pouring in.

“His girlfriend was snooping through his phone and she saw he had (Peterkin) on the ‘Do Not Disturb’ features, so she took it off and the phone vibrated for an hour straight. When she looked, there were over 300 messages from Peterkin and 64 videos,” Broadnax said.

Broadnax said she called the authorities after watching a video for three seconds. She had Peterkin's address, because she had sent Jaiden a birthday gift, so she searched Google for the nearest police department and called the Humble authorities. As KIAH reported,

Broadnax said she asked police to do a welfare check on her nephew, fearing he was dead. She said in one of the videos, she saw the baby's eyes rolling back. Broadnax claims she explained to them what was happening, but they did not do anything.

Broadnax then took to social media, which led to the Humble Police Department's involvement. Officers visited Jaiden's daycare center and said they saw no signs of abuse on the boy, but then viewed the videos Broadnax had forwarded them. That led them to turn the case over to Harris County Precinct 4 constables, who interviewed Peterkin. She admitted that she had made the videos earlier in the year to show Jaiden's father, who, she claimed did not care enough about the baby.

Peterkin's arrest has not put Broadnax at ease, because Jaiden is in the custody of Peterkin's family, and she says that the boy's mother is unstable.

"Her craziness is what got her on the blocked list," Broadnax told KIAH. "My brother loves his kids, he has three little babies. Janelle has taken him through hell!"

Calls to Harris County authorities were not immediately returned.

— Image of Janelle Peterkin: Harris County Sheriff's Office