Brother of Woman Charged in Fatal Day Care Fire Registers Business in Victims' Names
March 2, 2011 — -- The brother of the woman sought in connection with the death of four toddlers in a day care fire said today he has abandoned plans to start a business in the name of the victims and denied that he was trying to profit from the tragedy.
Ron Tata also told ABCNews.com that he does not know where his sister Jessica is. Jessica Tata, 22, disappeared after the fire and is believed to have fled to Nigeria.
Ron Tata, 26, became a target of investigators Tuesday when Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos accused him of attempting to create a business called Houston Benefit of Daycare Victims. The prosecutor called Ron Tata's fundraising plans "reprehensible."
"I would urge the Tata family instead of ... raising money and who knows where that money is going ... and how it's going to be accounted for, that they have Miss Tata return to Harris County and face justice," Lykos said in a press conference Tuesday.
Ron Tata said that he did try to register a nonprofit organization in that name but never planned to handle the money and was working with family members and his church, Christ Embassy, to get the organization going.
"Money is not going to replace anything that these people lost. The way we thought about it, the healing process starts with the burial, the funeral. We wanted to help out any way we could with funeral costs and medical expenses. I wanted to help start it. I was not going to manage the funds," he said.
The plans have been halted since Lykos' comments, Ron Tata said.
"Pat [Lykos] threw a huge ... wrench into what could have been a beautiful thing. She's frustrated," he said. "Jessica's not here, they've got to point the finger at somebody, and they need a scapegoat. I'm definitely being targeted. That's not a surprise."
Ron Tata's sister, Jessica Tata, 22, is a wanted fugitive, who is believed to have fled to Nigeria last weekend following Thursdya's fire at the Houston day care center, called Jackie's Child Care, that she ran from her home.
Ron Tata would not confirm his sister's whereabouts and said that he had no idea where she was staying.
"We assume Jessica's not calling us to protect us. I don't even know if she's alive right now," he said. "She is family, but she is a grown adult, and we can't be accountable for her actions."
