Chief Defends Arrests of Parents in Mistaken Child-Molestation Case

San Clemente Police Chief Kelson McDaniel said Tuesday that his officers’ weekend arrests of an infant’s parents for alleged child molestation on a public beach was justified, even though the parents were later released for insufficient evidence.

But the angry couple--who spent a night in jail, separated from their breast-fed child--said they had merely kissed their boy affectionately, and vowed to sue the department for the arrest.

Edoardo DiAngelis, 38, and his wife, Yvonne, 20, were booked Sunday night into the San Clemente City Jail on suspicion of felony oral copulation, based on information provided to police by a bystander, who said she watched them as they lay with their child on San Clemente Beach.

Their son, 13-month-old Cairo, was kept in protective custody at Orangewood, the county’s shelter for abused and abandoned children.

Because there were no detectives on duty on Father’s Day night, the couple was held on $10,000 bail until an investigator questioned them at 11:30 a.m. Monday. Police said the statement of the sole eyewitness who reported the alleged molestation was not sufficient evidence to prosecute the parents and ordered their release.

Parents Angry

Eighteen hours later, the angry parents picked up their son at the shelter in Orange. Although they had recently moved from Massachusetts and had been living with friends at a San Clemente apartment while hunting for a house, the couple decided after their release from jail to stay for the time being with friends in Long Beach. The DiAngelises said a family visit to the beach turned into a “nightmare” at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. They said they had been planting kisses on their naked baby--on his behind and “all over his body”--as they lay on the sand.

“The baby was crawling around between us and over us--he likes to climb mountains--and we started giving him raspberry kisses, just blowing the skin,” Edoardo DiAngelis said Tuesday. “Little did we know that this would be twisted by this individual into something bad.”

Police said a 37-year-old San Clemente woman leaving the beach with her teen-age daughter reported seeing the couple molesting the infant. The woman flagged down an officer several blocks from what is known as the T Street Beach and told him that the parents had seen her watching them and promptly began gathering up their beach gear.

Yvonne DiAngelis, five months pregnant and still nursing Cairo, said she began diapering her son as her husband warmed up the engine of their Volkswagen bus. They were unaware that the witness had driven by the van, written down its license plate and reported it to an officer a few blocks away, police and the parents said.

Couple Handcuffed

A second officer arrived and, according to the couple, told them they had been accused of felony oral copulation and were under arrest. Edoardo DiAngelis said he and his wife were handcuffed after the woman identified them as the couple she had seen on the beach.

Despite the mother’s pleas that the infant remain with her because he was still nursing, officers took the child away, both parents said.

By Tuesday afternoon, Chief McDaniel had interviewed the woman who reported the alleged abuse and reviewed his department’s conduct during the case.

Officers, he concluded, had probable cause to arrest and jail the couple based on the witness’ statement and also because, as suspects, the DiAngelises could have been detained for up to 48 hours while police investigated the case. He added that the couple gave no address, claimed to be living out of their van and potentially could have fled the area pending an investigation.

Actions Defended

“Based on the reaction of the suspects, based on their conduct when they saw they were being watched--they immediately packed up and left the beach, and the male glared at our witness to the point where she was frightened--I believe (we acted properly),” McDaniel said. “After the fact it becomes unfortunate because they spent some time in jail and weren’t sentenced by a judge,” he added. “But, my goodness, that happens all the time. That’s just the system. We don’t want to see anyone in jail that doesn’t belong there.”

But DiAngelis countered: “Because of our stupid innocence, we were kissing the baby all over its body.

“But what am I, stupid? Am I going to do this in public? There were surfers all over the place, people standing around. Am I going to do something illegal and a felony out in public in front of everybody? Come on. . . . We did nothing wrong at all. And any parent right now is probably empathizing with us.”

The father said he found it impossible to believe that the woman could have seen what she reported seeing from 10 to 20 feet away--between the two parents’ bodies.

‘Healthy Conduct’

McDaniel said: “I think it’s probably very, very healthy conduct for a parent to be extremely affectionate with his child. . . . I think when you bathe a child and powder it up and it smells so good and it’s your (baby), I think a kiss on the rump is probably totally in line.” McDaniel, who has four children, added, “I’ve done it myself.”

“But I don’t think you could do what these people were doing and call it anything but deviant behavior,” he said.

” . . . For a parent to kiss the orifices of a child’s body, that is deviant behavior. That’s oral copulation. And it was a 13-month-old child who can’t give consent, it was in public where other people could be outraged too.”

Edoardo DiAngelis said he hoped that the department would apologize and admit that the officers did not ask the couple any questions before arresting them and taking their child to a county shelter.

“I’m not overly optimistic of that,” he said.