Chacon woman arrested following allegations of ‘ongoing’ child abuse

Taylor M. Ealey, 28, of Chacon, was arrested Jan. 15 and charged with felony child abuse following an investigation by the New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau.

The investigation began Dec. 29 when NMSP officers were called to Alta Vista Regional Hospital in Las Vegas where a 6-year-old boy had been admitted with cuts, bruises and a skull fracture, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Mora Magistrate Court.

The child was later airlifted to UNM Children’s Hospital in Albuquerque where the Children, Youth and Families Department was contacted. Hospital staff ordered a Child Abuse Response Team exam, a series of physical exams and laboratory tests performed in instances where physical abuse is suspected. A spokesman for CYFD said he could not comment on the specific case due to privacy laws. Ealey and her girlfriend, who is the child’s mother, told NMSP investigators the boy had fallen from a 15-foot cliff Dec. 28 while gathering firewood near the couple’s home in rural Mora County.

The couple described a daring rescue where they’d positioned a pickup truck near the cliff’s edge, and then using a rope tied to the truck, Ealey rapelled down the cliff to reach the boy. She then placed him on her back, she said, before climbing back up the cliff using the rope.

The couple told investigators the boy had a bruise on his leg, a scratch on his back and a scab on his chest, but seemed fine otherwise; however, the next morning, the child’s eye was swollen.

Investigators found scabs on the child’s chest, face and feet. He also had a swollen left eye and a swollen upper lip, and bruises on his legs, stomach and buttocks.

A summary of the CART exam entered into court record describes multiple injuries to the child, including bruises, abrasions, friction injuries, oral and ocular injuries and head bone injuries.

The summary also noted evidence of abdominal trauma and signs of hypothermia to the boy’s hands and feet.

On Dec. 31, CYFD determined the child’s injuries were “consistent with ongoing abuse,” and the CART exam concluded that the child should be removed from the home, according to court documents.

While in CYFD custody, the boy told an investigator that Ealey was mean to him, and that she would make him run outside at night while barefoot.

He said he wasn’t allowed to eat, that Ealey would flick him in the eye, spank him with a belt, punch him in the stomach and make him sit in a closet. He also told the investigator that Ealey had instructed him not to tell anyone about the punishments, and that his mom told him to tell the story about falling off a cliff.

According to police, during a Jan. 10 interview, Ealey admitted the story about the boy falling off the cliff was false.

She said she’d been punishing the boy and “may have gotten carried away.”

Ealey admitted to doing a “sternum rub” on the boy multiple times, which resulted in the scab on his chest, and said she’d made him run laps outside, but denied that he was barefoot at the time. She further admitted that during other punishments, she’d spanked him with a belt, applied pressure points to his lip and had forced him to take cold showers.

The child’s mother has not been charged with a crime, and NMSP did not respond to the Optic’s request for further information.

The child remains in the custody of CYFD; however, in a lawsuit filed Jan. 9, the boy’s father, who lives in Oklahoma, is seeking sole custody of the child.

Ealey was arrested and booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center Jan. 15.

During a Jan. 16 hearing, Judge John L. Sanchez released Ealey on an unsecured $5,000 bond. Ealey is scheduled to appear in Mora Magistrate Court Feb. 19 for a preliminary hearing.