Moms set up 4-year-olds to brawl, shared videos of fights

Austin police say three adults used cupcakes and digital tablets to bribe two 4-year-old girls into hitting each other – and shared video of the fights.

A municipal court judge signed off on arrest warrants for Jennifer Sanchez, 19, and her mother, Joann, 37, on charges of child endangerment.

Joann’s boyfriend, Tommy Cruz, 32, was booked Saturday into Travis County Jail on two counts of child endangerment, jail records show.

According to arrest affidavits filed Tuesday, police say Jennifer Sanchez shot two videos of the children on her cell phone and sent both of them to the grandmother of one of the children. The grandmother passed the videos on to the child’s father, who then posted them on Facebook and alerted police.

The first video shows Jennifer and an unidentified teenager encouraging the two 4-year-old girls to fight as they play on a trampoline in the backyard of a Southeast Austin house, the affidavit says.

Joann’s daughter drags Jennifer’s daughter by her hair, causing the child to cry in pain, officers stated in the affidavit.

“Don’t ask for your tablet because you got beat up,” Jennifer says in the video, according to the affidavit.

The second video takes place in the living room of the same home, the affidavit says. This time, Jennifer’s daughter pulls Joann’s daughter’s hair, causing the girl to cry, officers state in the affidavits.

The officers said that Jennifer Sanchez and Cruz encouraged the children to keep going.

“Go, go, punch, punch, come on, if you want that cupcake,” Cruz says on the tape, according to the officers in the affidavits.

Jennifer Sanchez told investigators with Child Protective Services that she recorded both videos, the affidavits said. She refused to speak with Austin police.

Joann Sanchez told police that she sat on the couch and watched the children fight during the second video and allowed it to go on because “she felt she was teaching (her daughter) to defend herself from bullies at school,” officers reported in the affidavit.

Cruz confirmed to officers that he was on the couch with Joann Sanchez as the second tape was made and, according to the affidavit, said he allowed it to go on because “neither child was bleeding nor did it seem serious.”

Cruz is being held with bail set at $50,000; Joann Sanchez’s bail has been set at $50,000, and Jennifer’s has been set at $45,000.