Kaitlyn Laura has since been charged with injury to a child — serious bodily injury, and she also faces an additional charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon

NEED TO KNOW

• A Texas mom allegedly subjected her 3-year-old son to medical abuse
• Kaitlyn Laura claimed her child had cerebral palsy and was unable to walk, and she unnecessarily had him use a feeding tube and a wheelchair
• She has since been charged with injury to a child — serious bodily injury, and she also faces an additional charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon

A Texas mom is facing multiple charges after she allegedly subjected her 3-year-old son to medical abuse.

Kaitlyn Laura was arrested on March 19 in connection with accusations of medical child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury to a child, the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) said in a news release obtained by PEOPLE.

She was booked into the Tarrant County Jail on one charge of injury to a child — serious bodily injury, which is a first-degree felony under Texas State Law. Laura, 31, also faces an additional charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police said.

Laura was released from the Tarrant County jail on a $75,000 bond on March 29, The Dallas Morning News, CBS News and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

The woman claimed her son had cerebral palsy and was unable to walk, and she unnecessarily had him use a feeding tube and a wheelchair, the outlets said.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Dallas Morning News, CBS News and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Laura claimed to the gastrointestinal team at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth that her son had “eating problems."

She kept visiting the medical facility, claiming that her son’s condition was "deteriorating" and he wasn’t eating, per the outlets. (However, the boy’s father denied the claim, stating that the 3-year-old was eating “without an issue.”)

The child was eventually given a feeding tube through his stomach on May 20, but medical staff became suspicious when Laura returned to the hospital, claiming her son was having problems with the feeding tube, despite staff seeing him “eat multiple meals by mouth." He also attempted to stand while his mother insisted he use a wheelchair, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Laura’s son also underwent several unnecessary surgeries and treatments over the course of a year, according to CBS News.

The child's alleged medical abuse was first reported to Child Protection Services (CPS) in June 2025, after doctors determined that the medical conditions Laura claimed her son had were false or exaggerated, and that his treatments were unnecessary, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The Glen Rose Police Department (GRPD) passed the case on to the Johnson County District Attorney’s office (JCDAO), according to the outlet.

The alleged abuse was later reported to CPS again by a concerned teacher at Laura’s son’s school in October 2025. The educator claimed that the boy ate solid food and "ambulates about campus independently without the use of his gait trainer or wheelchair," per The Dallas Morning News.

Laura removed her son from the school shortly after, the outlet added.

In January, Laura’s son had an invasive surgical procedure to place a new feeding tube. The mom allegedly requested her son be readmitted in February, claiming that he was suffering complications with the tube and asked for him to be put in a “posey bed,” a tent-like enclosure system used for high-risk patients, according to the outlets.

The 3-year-old was placed into foster care on Feb. 14, according to The Dallas Morning News, which cited the police affidavit.

CBS News reported that Laura also shared “conflicting” accounts of her son’s birth. In October 2024, she allegedly told Early Childhood Development that her son had a “traumatic birth,” and five months later, she allegedly claimed to Cook Children's Health Care System that her son "needed oxygen at delivery."

She also reportedly set up several fundraising accounts on social media to support her son’s medical care, per the outlet.

"This narcissistic person, for their own pleasure of getting the sympathy for having a fragile child, is what we see playing out in front of us … the child is being tortured," Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said in a statement.

He added, "There are scars on his body from those surgeries that weren't necessary, and he's going to have to be told, 'Why are they here?' So there could be trauma for many, many years to come.”

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TCSO said in its news release: "There is an additional investigation into Medicaid fraud charges for unnecessary medical treatments."

Authorities added that "detectives are aware of at least three separate GoFundMe accounts created by Laura to solicit monetary donations for both herself and her child’s medical expenses."

Police are now asking anyone who donated to Laura, or who may have exchanged text messages with her about the health of her child, to contact the TCSO at 817-884-1305.

PEOPLE has contacted CPS, the JCDAO and the Cook Children's Medical Center for comment but did not receive an immediate response. It is not clear if Laura has legal representation to comment on her behalf.

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