Parents Plead Guilty to Child Endangering in Infant’s Death

A North Hollywood couple whose 15-day-old son died of an infection in an apartment described as “covered with wall-to-wall garbage” pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony child endangering and face up to one year in County Jail.

Christopher Thomas Chacon, 22, and Lori Ann Needham, 20, were charged with endangering the life of Steven Christopher Chacon, who died three days after being circumcised by a doctor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth A. Loveman said.

Additional charges of involuntary manslaughter against the couple will be dismissed when Chacon and Needham are sentenced in San Fernando Superior Court on May 22, Loveman said.

The couple called paramedics to their apartment Oct. 26 when they discovered that the baby was not breathing, Loveman said. Inside, paramedics encountered flies, cockroaches, at least 70 soiled diapers, piles of clothes and beer cans, dirty dishes and trash, Loveman said.

“The apartment was covered with filth, wall-to-wall garbage,” he said.

The doctor who performed the circumcision later saw photographs of the apartment and said that the infant’s exposure to filth increased the chances of infection, Loveman said.

“We can’t say for sure what caused the baby to get infected,” Loveman said. “It could have happened without those conditions.”

The mess in the apartment apparently resulted from a dispute over cleaning responsibilities, Loveman said. At some point, the problem overwhelmed the couple and they did not know how to clean up without embarrassing themselves in front of neighbors and Needham’s parents, who lived nearby, he said.

“I’m sure they will never totally recover from the loss of their child, but it’s a greater shame that the child didn’t have more than 15 days to find his own way in this world,” Loveman said.

Attorneys for Chacon and Needham declined to comment on the case.