Santa Paula man pleads guilty to
physically abusing his daughters
January 30, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
A Santa Paula man pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of child abuse, one felony and one misdemeanor, one-week after his first court appearance where he entered a plea of not guilty.
Richard McElroy, 33, was arrested January 15 after his wife called Santa Paula Police and she said McElroy had been drinking all day and then physically abused their two daughters.
Police responded to the family’s home on the 200 block of North 12th Street and McElroy’s wife - who is expecting another child - told officers her husband had been drinking heavily that day and had first become impatient with the children, then irritated and finally physically abusive.
Investigators were told McElroy had bitten the couple’s 3-year-old daughter on her arm, poured hot sauce down her throat, struck her several times on the back with a hair brush and threw her against a closet door.
The wife also reported her husband picked up their 8-month-old daughter and dropped her 2-3 feet into her crib and then threw her from a distance of 5 feet onto the bed.
At the time the abuse occurred, McElroy was free on bail pending sentencing after he pleaded guilty the week before to another earlier misdemeanor domestic violence charge.
At a January 20 Ventura County Superior Court appearance the judge ordered McElroy’s bail increased from $100,000 to $250,000 and, if McElroy did make bail, imposed restraining orders that banned McElroy from contacting his wife and two daughters. McElroy was also ordered not to possess a firearm.
After his January 28 guilty plea McElroy remains in Ventura County Main Jail on the $250,000 bail pending sentencing on February 27.
It is likely McElroy will receive a year in the county jail when he is sentenced on the charges.
