Allen mother tortured children with knives, tried to put 3-year-old in oven, arrest affidavit says

ALLEN, Texas - An Allen woman arrested after a SWAT standoff was wanted for allegedly abusing her children, according to an arrest affidavit acquired by FOX 4.

Lul Top, 36, was arrested Monday morning at a home on Tanglewood Drive.

Police say Top barricaded herself inside the attic of the home while law enforcement tried to serve a warrant. She was arrested after two hours. An arrest affidavit details the charges against her.

Cell phone video from a neighbor shows Top with her hands behind her back.

On Jan. 8, Allen police were called to Top’s home after she allegedly beat her husband with a stick in front of her six children, court documents say.

Child Protective Services removed the children from the home following the incident.

A 3-year-old child told interviewers at the Children's Advocacy Center of Collin County that Top had tried to put her inside an oven that the child said was hot. A 10-year-old child told the investigator he had to physically fight his mother to get the 3-year-old away from the heated oven and took the child upstairs to hide her. A 4-year-old child said they saw the incident, according to the affidavit.

The 6, 9 and 10-year-old told investigators Top drinks a lot of alcohol and would tell the kids to find her more if she ran out.

The documents say the investigator noticed both the 3-year-old and 4-year-old had scars "resembling knife cuts" and that both children said their mother used a knife to cut them.

The children said their mother would become angry and threaten to cut their hands and fingers off with a cleaver knife if they didn't help her find alcohol.

One boy told detectives his mother once held the knife to his tongue. Plus, the boy said his mother made him drink alcohol, but he spit it out, according to the affidavit.

The children told investigators that Top threatened to kill everyone with a cleaver and that the children would hide knives so that their mother would not be able to threaten them, according to the affidavit.

Neighbor William Whitney says just a few days before the standoff, he had a strange encounter. He says Top and another woman knocked on his door and asked to borrow his Wi-Fi. 

Lul Top (Source: Collin County Jail)

"Always weird stuff over there. The police were always there," he said. "Seeing the kids playing out in the back by themselves, no supervision. And to know that was actually happening, it’s sad. It’s really sad."

Allen Police told FOX 4 they have responded to 11 calls at the home since Jan. 1, including the warrant that was issued Monday.

Neighbors say the family started renting that home about a year ago. 

Allen police say knives inside the home were taken into evidence when Top was arrested. 

Top is charged with six counts of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She is currently in the Collin County Jail where she is being held on a $600,000 bond.