An Orange County mother was charged with beating her 5-week-old son, leaving him with 16 broken bones and a fractured skull.
The mother was identified as Mirian Jimenez-Olivera, 34, of Santa Ana, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Jimenez-Olivera is accused of beating her son, Esteban, when he wouldn’t stop crying. She allegedly punched the infant repeatedly, leaving him with 16 broken bones including a skull fracture, a fractured knee, a fractured elbow, broken ribs and a fractured arm.
On May 13, the baby was brought to Children’s Hospital of Orange County when he wasn’t moving his left arm. That’s when doctors discovered the baby’s numerous injuries.
The mother is accused of assaulting her baby since he was two weeks old, the DA’s office said. Whenever he would cry, she allegedly punched him in the ribs, shoulder and arms while also roughly pulling his leg whenever she changed him.
Jimenez-Olivera was arrested and charged with 11 felony counts of child abuse. She faces up to 42 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
The baby’s father, Edgar Busto-Rodriguez, 35, is accused of trying to cover up the mother’s abuse by lying to police about how his infant son was injured, court documents said.
Busto-Rodriguez was charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.
The baby’s parents have pleaded not guilty and are being held in custody in lieu of a $1 million bond each.
“A mother’s arms should be the safest place for a newborn, fiercely protecting him from the world, but for little Esteban his mother’s arms were the weapons of violence which helped systematically break his little bones into tiny pieces because he wouldn’t stop doing what every newborn does — cry,” said O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “No child should be brought into this world and be subjected to unimaginable pain – and then be left to suffer in silence, not knowing when the next time his mother would lash out in anger and break another rib or snap another bone. We are so grateful to the miracle workers at CHOC who rescued this defenseless baby from the living hell he was born into.”