Kids taken from home-based church where police say boy died


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DALLAS (AP) — Authorities say five children have been removed from a Dallas-area home that served as a church where leaders helped starve a 2-year-old boy to rid him of a "demon."

Texas Child Protective Services tell The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/1NR5AQI ) that the children taken from the Balch Springs home range in age from 1 to 13.

Balch Springs police say a church leader, 49-year-old Aracely Meza, told the boy's parents to feed him only water for 25 days, believing it would save him, then held ceremony to try to resurrect him shortly after he died last month.

Police believe the boy's parents took his body to their native Mexico without reporting the death.

Meza is jailed on a charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission.

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Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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