Juan Vaquero is the man who stepped in for a 6-year-old boy in need of help. The little one was found locked in his grandma’s filthy shed with his arms tied behind his back.
Vaquero recalls the moment he heard the noises coming from the shed while he was renting the backyard of the boy’s grandma’s house and lived in a trailer. He knew the little boy from before as he had seen him playing around, but he had no idea he was mistreated by the grandma, Esmeralda Lira, 53, and her 64-year-old boyfriend Jose Balderas.
When Vaquero approached the shed that evening and asked who’s inside, a trembling voice answered. The boy said how he was very hungry as he hadn’t eaten since the morning and it was 10 p.m. already.
Vaquero said how he will bring a Jell-O, but the boy told him he couldn’t eat it because his arms were tied. That’s when Vaquero realized the severity of the situation. It wasn’t just a family matter where a boy was innocently grounded for something he did, so he decided to interfere and called child protection services.
Dallas police was soon at the scene. They entered the shed and discovered the helpless boy. Rats and insects could be spotted around him.
In the house, there were two other children as well.
When questioned why they did what they did to the little boy, Esmeralda and her boyfriend said how he was stealing food. Dallas Police believes the boy had been locked in the shed every night for two weeks.
Both Esmeralda and Jose have been arrested and charged for endangering a child.
With tears in his eyes, Vaquero says, “It had to be me who spoke up.” He is very happy he got to help the boy. If he stayed longer with such cruel people as his grandma and her boyfriend who knows what would have happened and what else he would have to go through.
You can take a look at the whole story in the video below.