2-Year-Old Hospitalized; Couple Arrested for Alleged Abuse

A West Covina child was hospitalized in critical condition Saturday and her mother and mother’s boyfriend were jailed without bail in what one veteran officer described as the worst case of child abuse he has ever seen.

The girl’s mother, Martha Araceli Alspuro, 25, and a man whom police described as her live-in boyfriend, Hector Ubaldo Soto, 22, were arrested after doctors examined the 2-year-old and said they found signs of abuse, West Covina police said. The detectives also indicated that the explanations provided by the two adults were inconsistent with the child’s injuries.

The pair were being held without bail after they were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, child beating, sexual perversion and sodomy.

“I’ve been here 19 years and I can’t think of any worse case,” Police Lt. Lee Rossman said.

Police and neighbors said no other children were staying in the house in the quiet, upper-middle-class neighborhood where Soto operated a gardening business.

Paramedics rushed to the couple’s house about 8:45 p.m. Friday after receiving a call that the child had stopped breathing. The girl was revived but remained in intensive care at Queen of the Valley Medical Center, police said.

The couple live in a brown, single-story house where Christmas lights still drape from the eaves and the lawn needs mowing. Neighbors said they moved in about three months ago but stayed to themselves.

Tony Montes, who lives next door, said he never heard any loud noises or had problems with his neighbors. He said he occasionally saw Soto playing with the happy, smiling toddler in his front yard.

Montes said he asked the man one day whether he was the girl’s father and was told that the child belonged to a cousin.

Rebecca Sanchez, whose parents live across the street from the couple, said she once noticed the little girl standing at the front windows of the house crying. When she looked out again two or three hours later, the child was still crying.