Man Convicted in Beating Death of 2-Year-Old Girl
A West Covina man has been found guilty of second-degree murder and felony child abuse in the beating death last September of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.
Hector Ubaldo Soto, 22, who prosecutors said had taped the child’s mouth shut and suspended her from a closet rod before beating her, was convicted Wednesday by a Pomona Superior Court jury.
He faces a maximum prison term of 15 years to life when he is sentenced by Judge William McVittie on April 20.
Soto originally had been charged with rape, sodomy and child molestation, but those counts were dropped after an autopsy indicated that the girl, Jessica Aispuro, had not been sexually abused.
Soto’s girlfriend, Martha Araceli Aispuro, 25, was sentenced to one year in county jail after she pleaded guilty in January to being an accessory to child abuse.
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