Baby Suffered Stroke, Brain Damage and Is Comatose : Northridge Sitter Gets 4 Years for Choking Boy

A Northridge baby sitter who admitted shaking and choking 7-month-old infant because he would not stop crying was sentenced Wednesday to four years in state prison for child endangering.

The infant, Jose Rosa, suffered a cerebral stroke and massive brain damage. He has been in a coma since the May 1 incident, according to the probation report prepared for the sentencing.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge John H. Major said he did not impose the maximum six-year sentence because the baby sitter, Celia Sanchez Avila, 23, showed remorse. Avila pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges in September. She had no record.

During an emotional hearing that lasted more than an hour, the parents of the infant, Jose Rosa and Ana Caceres Rosa of Los Angeles, tearfully pleaded with the judge to impose a stiff sentence on Avila, who had been the child’s regular baby sitter for four months.

Emotional Testimony

“Because of her, my child is incapacitated. He’s blind and he cannot ever pick up a toy,” a sobbing Ana Caceres Rosa said through an interpreter.

“If you were to give her 100 years that wouldn’t be enough to pay for what she did to this innocent baby,” Jose Rosa said, wiping back tears.

Avila, a Mexican national and the mother of a 4-year-old son, covered her face and wept quietly through most of the sentencing.

According to the probation report, Ana Caceres Rosa had dropped her son off at Avila’s Bryant Street apartment in the morning. When she returned about 5 p.m., the baby was pale and having difficulty breathing, the report said. Avila at first denied that anything had happened to the child, according to the report.

5 Children in Her Care

However, she later confessed to police that several of the five children she was watching that day, ranging in age from 7 months to 5 years, were “screaming and were very loud.” On top of that, she told police, Jose and another infant were crying.

When Jose could not be quieted with a bottle, she reportedly told police, she became angry. She “put her hands on his neck and chest and tried to rock him up and down in the sofa by putting pressure on his neck,” the report said. When he still would not stop crying, Avila reportedly told police, she lost her temper and threw him against the sofa. After the blow, Jose fell asleep. Avila said she was not aware that the child had been severely injured, the report said.

The infant was later given emergency care and transported by helicopter to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he underwent brain surgery. However, he is not expected to recover from his comatose state, according to the probation report.