Day care operators jailed after children are found in shed Children found in day care’s shed

Sealy facility's operators arrested

Officials reported finding children hidden in this shed Wednesday at a Sealy in-home day care. ﻿Gasoline, lawn equipment and insecticides were inside. Officials don’t know how often this happened. Officials reported finding children hidden in this shed Wednesday at a Sealy in-home day care. ﻿Gasoline, lawn equipment and insecticides were inside. Officials don’t know how often this happened. Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Chronicle Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Day care operators jailed after children are found in shed 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Josh Romo wondered why his 2-year-old daughter sometimes dreaded going to her day care in Sealy. “Now we know,” he said Thursday after hearing news that state child welfare officials reported they found children stashed in a shed Wednesday at the Sealy in-home day care operation. His daughter was among the children in the shed.

“That lady’s going to hate me when she sees me,” the 31-year-old father said about one of the day care center’s owners. “Lock ’em up.”

The children — locked in the storage shed with gasoline, lawn equipment and insecticides — appear to be unharmed, Sealy police said.

Freddie Patek and his wife, Marietta Patek, both 65, who operate the facility, have been charged and are being held at the county jail, said Austin County District Attorney Travis Koehn.

Koehn said he is uncertain if keeping children in a shed and other areas of the house was common practice at the facility. However, Koehn added that the child welfare inspectors were not allowed immediate access to the home.

14 children found

Koehn said that Freddie Patek is charged with tampering with physical evidence because he hid the children and Marietta Patek is charged with six counts of endangering a child.

“It’s really, really frightening about what could have happened,” said Gwen Carter, spokeswoman for Texas Child Protective Services.

Officials said a concerned person Wednesday alerted the department that too many children were at the facility.

When department investigators visited the home, they found children inside a shed, in the backyard and several rooms in the home, Carter said.

Carter said that about 14 children — toddlers to preteens — were found at the facility, which is licensed to care for only three children at a time.

None injured

Paramedics examined the children and found them to be uninjured.

The children’s parents were called to pick them up, and the facility was shut down pending the outcome of an investigation, Carter said.

Parents told investigators that the Pateks did not let them look inside the home, Carter said.

The inquiry could take up to 30 days.

Carter said Marietta Patek once was registered to run a day care center at her home that could care for up to 12 children.

She closed that operation in 2001.

In 2003, she opened what was supposed to be a smaller-scale day care operation.

Neighbors defend them

Outside the large shuttered house in a leafy neighborhood, neighbors said that the Pateks have taken care of kids for decades.

Some called them foul-tempered, but others said they were pillars of the community.

“They’re model citizens,” said Lana Gregor, who said she’s known the family for more than 30 years. “They’re very hard workers and a credit to this place.”

Gregor and another neighbor, Sharla Bell, said they’ve let the Pateks take care of their children.

At the Twisted Willow Floral Shop a few miles away, owner Lynette Lee said stuffing children in a shed was a “poor choice.” But, she added, she wasn’t mad at the Pateks, despite the fact that her infant niece was one of those found in the shed.

“I’m sure she was just trying to protect her livelihood, hiding them from CPS’ eyes,” Lee said, “but they’re good people.”

dale.lezon@chron.com

moises.mendoza@chron.com