Police: Woman uses Taser, wooden stick, fist, wire hanger, belt to abuse boy in Miami-Dade

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Police officers recently arrested a 32-year-old woman after a private school administrator in deep south Miami-Dade County reported that a student had shown up to class with two untreated head injuries.

Samantha Figueroa appeared in Miami-Dade County court on Thursday to face charges after confessing that she had injured the Avant School of Excellence student in Florida City.

“I am under a lot of stress,” Figueroa said during an interview with a detective, according to the arrest report.

Police officers first responded to the K-12 school, at 777 W. Palm Dr., to meet the injured boy on Feb. 8, after he told a classmate that Figueroa, his stepmother, used a wooden stick to punish him for playing video games when he was supposed to be sleeping, according to the arrest report.

“I am scared to go home every single day … My mom hits me with her fist, hand, wire hanger, belt, or anything she finds,” the boy told a detective, according to the arrest report.

When police officers arrested her on Wednesday, Figueroa already had a history with The Florida Department of Children and Families for allegedly using a Taser to punish the boy, according to police.

Figueroa was facing charges of aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm and child neglect with great bodily harm, Miami-Dade court records show. Her bond was set at $10,000 and she remained at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Thursday afternoon.