Devastating injuries: Oxnard woman who left son in car in SP to face trial
October 02, 2013
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
An Oxnard woman who left her toddler in a car while she worked in Santa Paula last year has been ordered to stand trial for felony child endangerment.
It is likely the two-year-old boy will require total care in a skilled nursing facility for the rest of his life after his mother, Silvia Serratos, allegedly left him inside her locked car all day while working in the city on October 14, 2012.
The vehicle was parked outside her workplace in the 300 block of West Harvard Boulevard on a day that outside temperatures reached 85 degrees.
Serratos said she checked on the boy in the vehicle throughout the day.
According to the Santa Paula Police Department, Serratos ultimately took the boy to St. John’s Regional Medical Center, where it was determined he had suffered “devastating permanent brain damage” that a SPPD spokesman said would leave the boy bedridden for the rest of his life. The boy reportedly is also on a ventilator.
Initially Oxnard Police investigated after hospital personnel contacted law enforcement. At that time Serratos was reportedly maintaining her son had been exposed to the heat while at an Oxnard park. Later, when she said the incident occurred in Santa Paula where the child had been left in a parked vehicle, Oxnard Police turned the case over to the local department.
The months-long investigation ended when Serratos, who in the interim gave birth to another child, was arrested April 17 in Oxnard.
Serratos was booked into Ventura County Jail after her arrest on allegations of child abuse causing great bodily injury and remains in custody with bail set at $100,000.
Thursday during an appearance in a Ventura County Superior Courtroom Serratos was ordered to return to court October 11 to be arraigned and have a trial date set.
If convicted Serratos could be receive a maximum sentence of 12 years.
