SAN ANTONIO – A man was arrested by San Antonio police after a 1-year-old girl in his care was found to have lacerated organs and broken ribs, believed to be from abuse, according to an arrest affidavit.
Rickey Lee Billoups III, 19, is charged with injury to a child – serious bodily injury, Bexar County court records show. He was arrested Friday, Sept. 23.
The charge stems from an incident on Sept. 19, 2021, after police were called by hospital staff to investigate a 1-year-old girl’s “unexplained injuries.”
According to an arrest affidavit, doctors found the child had a lacerated kidney and liver, an acute non-displaced fracture on her left 10th rib and a healing fracture of her 9th right rib.
The child was taken to the hospital by her grandmother and medical staff claimed if she hadn’t been brought in, the child faced “a substantial risk of death,” an affidavit states.
Police said the child was left in Billoups’ care after her mother dropped her off and went to a nearby Walmart with family members.
Billoups is not the biological father of the child, according to SAPD, but the child was left in his care for 20 minutes before he reached out to her mother.
He told the child’s mother she needed to come home because the child was “crying uncontrollably,” the affidavit states.
Police said Billoups then reached out to the child’s mother through Instagram, saying she was “drowsy and incoherent.”
When the child’s mother returned home, she called EMS. When EMS arrived, they couldn’t tell what was wrong with the child, but told her mother to monitor her overnight.
Shortly after EMS left the home, the child vomited, according to the affidavit.
Video surveillance obtained by SAPD showed the child’s mother was at Walmart for an hour and a half and left the child in Billoups’ care during that time.
Police spoke with hospital staff, who said the child’s injuries were from blunt force trauma and were “evidence of physical abuse.”
Billoups was taken into custody and is being held in the Bexar County Jail. According to court records, his bond is set at $250,000.