San Angelo Woman Sentenced for Causing Serious Bodily Harm to a Child

SAN ANGELO, TX- A San Angelo woman has been sentenced for terrorizing and abusing children causing serious bodily injury including permanent disfigurement and broken teeth.

Investigators received information about a child abuse case from Child Protective Services. The child victim said in a forensic interview that the defendant, identified as Maria Isabel Pena or Maria Isabel Deller, threw the victim against a wall causing the child’s ear to swell. Pena did not have the money for medical treatment and was aware that the victim’s ear was swollen.

Another child observed the swollen ear in February 2019 and the second child could also hear the victim screaming. The second child then noticed a big bump on the victim’s ear and stated this occurred while still in the 2018/2018 school year.

A third child also said in an interview that they observed the victim with a swollen ear.

When medical staff examined the injury to the victim’s ear, it was determined that the ear was scar tissue and be permanently disfigured that will require plastic surgery to fix. The medical staff also stated that had something been done when the injury occurred, the disfigurement may have been prevented.

The affiant also observed the same child victim to have two broken or chipped teeth. The victim said that Pena struck them in the mouth while holding a cellphone which broke the teeth. Another child witnessed Pena hit the victim in the mouth then witness the victim spit out part of a tooth.

Maria Isabel Pena was booked into the Tom Green County Detention Facility on August 8, 2019. Now, Pena will serve 30 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for aggravated kidnapping/terrorizing and injury to a child causing serious bodily injury.

Pena was also being held on an I.C.E. hold in the Tom Green County Detention Facility.