Houston's Craziest: The 30 Worst
The troubled people whom Houston police officers hate to see headed their way.
 

By Paul Knight

A 34-year-old man whose grandmother filed a restraining order against him because he beat her up. The man eventually moved to Pasadena with an aunt who had a criminal record for fraud and takes care of two foster children with special needs. The man assaulted one of the children and was arrested. Since the chronic consumer program started, the patient has been arrested and hospitalized four times.

A 23-year-old woman who lives alone in her own apartment and has a history of violence against her mother and father and anyone who disagrees with her, leading to a lot of contact with police. She reportedly "will pick up strange men from the street" and have sex with them.

A 26-year-old woman who was recently hospitalized for nine weeks after becoming violent and destroying property. Caseworkers tried to get her in a state school, but she didn't qualify. She was kicked out of her group home and lives with her aunt, who has reported physically fighting with the woman.

A 52-year-old woman who is "hyper-religious," leading to arrests and 14 hospitalizations in the last five years. Her illness progressed after her sister died of complications from AIDS, and the patient became responsible for her sister's five children. She wasn't employed, but was "infatuated with finding religious clarity." A recent episode included her tearing up her home and terrorizing her roommate. She was later found walking naked downtown.

A 48-year-old woman who lives with her boyfriend and is "hyper-religious," causing delusions that increase during Easter and Christmas, followed by manic episodes where she doesn't sleep for days. She believes she was deported from Iran/Iraq for working with women, she had her ear cut off for ransom, she was hired by a church to battle demons and that a drug cartel is after her. Her boyfriend attempted to pimp her for sex to homeless people.

A 26-year-old man who lives with his parents and is violent toward them and other immediate family members. He does not think he is mentally ill and will not go to treatment or take medications.

Jackie Foster, a 46-year-old woman who lives in an apartment in the South Park area. She has a criminal history for selling crack cocaine. She continued to test positive for cocaine and marijuana during the chronic consumer program. She believes people watch her through her air-conditioning vents and people come into her apartment when she's not there.

A 29-year-old man who lives in an abandoned car in his mother's driveway, because his family won't allow him in the house. He's a chronic crack cocaine user, and steals property from family, friends and random homes to pay for the drug. After breaking into his mother's house and assaulting a family member, the patient served several months in jail and was sent to Rusk State Hospital. He has been unwilling to attend drug rehabilitation.

9. A 29-year-old woman who lives with her grandmother. She is frequently arrested for trespassing and belligerent behavior. When the chronic consumer program started, she was serving time for possession of eight grams of PCP. She's robbed people on the streets, walked into oncoming traffic and attempted to drown herself in a swimming pool.

Tashonya Williams, a 37-year-old woman who lives in an apartment near the Houston Ship Channel. After losing custody of her five children several years ago, she has become increasingly delusional, thinking that neighbors and family members were performing voodoo on her or trying to kill her. She also becomes sexually hyperactive, opening her front door and lying in her living room naked, or she walks naked down the street.

A 25-year-old man, who is HIV-positive, lives at home with his mother, who is mentally retarded, and he has a history of slitting his wrists when he doesn't get his way. He has also been diagnosed as mildly mentally retarded. His grandmother is his primary caretaker. He abuses crack cocaine and steals to get money for the drug.

A 42-year-old woman who lived in a group home or behind a gas station in a wooded area, where she worked as a prostitute and smoked crack. She was a refugee from Cuba and under the care of the Harris County Guardianship program. She died during the chronic consumer program.

A 53-year-old man who hears voices telling him to throw himself into traffic, which he often does. He is in the hospital weekly for stabilization and drug treatment, and panhandles somewhere along Westheimer Road. He gets a monthly social security check that goes to his sister, and she charges him for room and board. More often than not, he lives on the streets.

A twentysomething man who has a long history of drug use, usually mixing Xanax with alcohol. Not long after he was accepted into a drug rehabilitation program, some friends talked him into robbing someone with a pistol. The "victim" held down the client until police arrived, and he is in Harris County Jail waiting for trial.

A twentysomething man who lives with his parents in southwest Houston, where he roams the streets, pestering women. Gang members have targeted him because of his behavior, and his family is scared for his safety.

A 57-year-old woman who is homeless and has a history of escaping from the hospital when she is put there under an emergency detention order from police. She has been arrested for trespassing at Texas Southern University and for stealing dental floss from a CVS.

Travis Bonser, a 30-year-old man who sometimes believes he is a woman. He started using heroin when he was 13, after his mother, also schizophrenic, showed him how. His drug of choice is now crack cocaine. He had to go to the hospital after he was chatting with someone on the Internet, claiming to be a woman and agreeing to meet a man for sex. That man severely beat the client after seeing him.

Jimmy Bailey, a 34-year-old man with a lengthy record of violence and assaults. Since he moved to Houston from East Texas, he has been unable to find a group home where he didn't get into fights.

A woman who dropped out of her day program to move in with her boyfriend, whom she smokes crack with. She can't use her arm very well because of a hit-and-run accident when she was living on the streets.

A woman who lives alone in an apartment and has threatened a caseworker with a weapon. She was living without an air conditioner or refrigerator.

A man who lives at his father's house in an affluent neighborhood. He is married and has children, but the family doesn't live with him. He frequently smokes marijuana.

22. A man with a history of arrests for violence, the last coming after he hit a staff member in his group home because he said the worker hit him with a shoe. He attends day programs where he is violent with staff or too sleepy for therapy. He takes a lot of pain pills.

Anthony Tingle, a 39-year-old man who threatened to kill his mother with a butcher knife in 1996. He received a six-year prison sentence in 2000 for aggravated robbery at a Kroger. He lives at a group home on the south side of Houston, and last year he tried to commit suicide by swallowing four razor blades. His psychotic episodes are often triggered when he is rejected by women, including prostitutes.

A man who likes to frequent "sex bars" and visit a Colombian girlfriend. He asked the chronic consumer program to buy him groceries after he spent his money on a prostitute. He works at the Galleria.

An elderly woman who becomes violent when she doesn't take her meds, usually resulting in a hospitalization.

A woman who lives in a run-down home with no running water and "borrowed" electricity. The city of Houston gave her a violation for living in the house.

A man who lives with a psychiatric nurse who is paid to care for him. He suffers from Asperger's and pervasive developmental disorder. He has "grandiose ideas."

A woman with a traumatic background that continues to cause her problems. She suffers from "delusions of persecutions and paranoia."

A 48-year-old man who ran away from his group home and was later arrested for aggravated burglary. He is in Harris County Jail, but was transferred to a jail unit at a hospital for unknown reasons.

A 25-year-old man who was arrested three times in 2009 for aggravated assault. He was recently released from city jail.

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