A Shelby County grand jury has indicted a 22-year-old babysitter on charges of aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect after prosecutors say a 2-year-old girl in her care was burned with boiling water over more than 30% of her body. Shatonia Wallace was booked into the Shelby County Jail on September 1 and is being held on a $100,000 bond.
The child, identified as Aquria, suffered first- and second-degree burns along with other injuries, according to her grandmother, Tracy Sims, who spoke with WREG. Sims said Wallace had been watching Aquria when the toddler was badly burned, and that the girl was later dropped off at Methodist hospital in a car seat. From there, Aquria was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and she was also treated at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator in May 2025, per Sims's account.
According to the indictment, the abuse allegations span a window from October 16, 2022, through May 17, 2025, and accuse Wallace of unlawfully and knowingly treating a child eight years old or younger in a manner that inflicted injury and serious bodily harm. Wallace is currently the only person facing charges in the case, though Sims told the outlet she believes someone else was involved.
A Toddler's Long Recovery
Sims said Aquria also had four front teeth removed following an injury to her mouth. The little girl is now recovering from her injuries but remains traumatized, according to Sims, who described nighttime screaming and disrupted sleep along with a lasting fear of hot water.
Sims left her job to care for Aquria and now has custody of the girl. Aquria's mother, Tamaurria Beloch, was killed in a car accident in 2025. Sims told the station she plans to attend every court hearing for Wallace and said she felt relieved that Wallace had finally been charged and arrested.
What the Charges Carry Under Tennessee Law
Under Tennessee's Haley's Law, codified at T.C.A. § 39-15-402, aggravated child abuse or neglect involving a victim eight years old or younger is classified as a Class A felony, carrying a mandatory sentence of 15 to 60 years in prison and fines up to $50,000, according to FindLaw. The statute specifically defines serious bodily injury to include second- or third-degree burns, bone fractures, and permanent disfigurement, and it requires anyone convicted under the section to undergo a pre-sentencing mental health evaluation, per Justia.
Burns covering more than 30% of a toddler's body far exceed the threshold that typically requires specialized burn center care. Clinical guidance from Johns Hopkins Medicine notes that scalding accounts for 65% of burn-related hospitalizations among children ages 4 and under, and that medical standards call for intensive burn center intervention once a burn covers 10% or more of a child's total body surface area — roughly a third of what Aquria reportedly endured.
Part of a Statewide Pattern
The case arrives amid what state officials describe as a troubling climb in severe child abuse cases across Tennessee. The Tennessee Second Look Commission reported in February that severe child abuse cases had reached their highest level since the commission's inception, with physical abuse making up 9.5% of combined severe mistreatment incidents statewide, according to Local Memphis. Federal data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed Tennessee investigated 78,422 children for alleged maltreatment in 2024, confirming 9,364 child victims and 47 child fatalities statewide.
A state audit released in December 2025 also raised operational concerns about how the Tennessee Department of Children's Services handles and completes abuse and neglect investigations. Separately, a University of Tennessee Haslam College of Business study estimated that child abuse and neglect cost the state between $3.33 billion and $4.97 billion annually, with the lifetime cost per victim exceeding $285,000 in healthcare, special education, and lost productivity.
Local Cases Highlight Prosecutorial Focus
Shelby County's Special Victims Unit has pursued a string of severe child abuse prosecutions in recent months. Just last week, a Memphis man was sentenced to 65 years for kidnapping and assaulting a 4-year-old girl in Memphis. In neighboring Fayette County, a father was convicted in August of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for the 2022 death of his 7-month-old son, who died after being taken to a Memphis hospital with severe non-accidental injuries.
Tennessee law also mandates that anyone who suspects a child is being abused or neglected must report it to the Department of Children's Services or law enforcement. Intentional failure to report is punishable as a Class A misdemeanor under T.C.A. § 37-1-403. For now, Wallace remains the only person charged in Aquria's case, and Sims's suspicion that someone else was involved has not been resolved by investigators.
