California IN BRIEF : SAN BERNARDINO : Pair Plead Guilty to Imprisoning Girl

The parents of a 12-year-old girl who was found by authorities imprisoned in a cockroach-infested closet pleaded guilty to one count of felony child endangerment for locking her up and depriving her of proper care. Prosecutors said they will argue for the maximum penalty--10 years and 4 months for Joseph Sauceda, 33, and 9 years for his wife, Sandra, 31. The Saucedas, who entered their plea in San Bernardino County Superior Court, will be sentenced Aug. 12. Relatives led police to the girl on Oct. 22, 1990. The closet where she was confined was crawling with cockroaches and nailed shut, police said. The malnourished child was unusually thin and bruised, dressed in a urine-stained sweatshirt and lying in her own feces, rescuing officers said. She told them she rarely left the 4-foot-by-5-foot bedroom closet and had been locked in at other homes where the family lived during the past decade, investigators said. The girl, whose name was withheld because of her age, and her six siblings, ages 2 months to 15 years, were turned over to county Child Protective Services and placed in foster homes.