The mother of a 14-year-old Northern California girl has been arrested after her child was found dead near a farm field.
The girl was abused and became pregnant by her own father, who fled with her when the newborn was found dead on a Monterey County road on Aug. 1, officials said.
The teen’s mother, Ofelia Garcia Ortega, 36, was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Salinas Superior Court by Monterey County Sheriff’s detectives, the agency said in a statement.
The infant, known to law enforcement as “Baby Angelita,” was found dead with signs of trauma on Struve Road in Monterey County.
The teen, who has not been named because she is a minor, was recently spotted in Mexico with her arrested fugitive father Sergio Galvez Perez. California authorities issued an AMBER Alert in early September.
Prosecutors said the girl was a victim of sexual abuse by her biological father. On September 2, he was charged with one count of child molestation, enhanced to “causing serious bodily harm to the victim,” one count of incest, and one count of child abuse, according to court documents.
“The investigation into the circumstances of the infant’s death also examined the conduct of Jane Doe’s mother, Ophelia Garcia Ortega,” the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “Investigators determined that Ortega used forged documents to allow Jane Doe to work on farmland when she was 13 years old. Ortega also allowed Jane Doe to drive without a license and allowed her to skip school altogether.”
commander. Monterey County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Andres Rosas could not immediately provide information about why Garcia Ortega was in Salinas Superior Court when he was arrested. She was previously arrested on August 4 on suspicion of child endangerment. Rosas told the Times that she was released that day after paying $50,000 bail.
She was taken into custody without incident at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday and charged with two felony counts of displaying or possessing a counterfeit ID; one misdemeanor count of subjecting a child to pain or danger; and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the statement said.
Rosas said Perez and his daughter were found in the town of Janos in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua.
The girl is now in the custody of the Mexican government agency responsible for child protection, Rosas said, adding that more details would be released later this week.
Rosas said Garcia-Ortega was being held in the Monterey County Jail on a $150,000 bond, but as of Tuesday night, she had not posted bond.