Parents Plead Not Guilty in Son’s Shackling : Crime: Couple are freed pending hearing on charges, reduced from a felony to misdemeanor.

A Placentia couple pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of child endangerment for shackling their troublesome 9-year-old son to a closet post.

As the boy and his three younger siblings were held in protective custody, their parents, Guadencio Martinez and Irma Ventura, appeared in Municipal Court to answer misdemeanor charges against them.

Municipal Judge John W. McOwen released the couple on their own recognizance and ordered them to return March 23 for a pretrial hearing.

The boy was found Tuesday, chained by his left ankle to a bar inside his bedroom closet. Police arrested his parents on charges of felony child endangerment, but prosecutors chose to file only misdemeanor charges.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Crofoot said that closer investigation showed that although the parents’ actions were “criminally inappropriate,” the felony charges were unwarranted.

Prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence of acts that were likely to cause great bodily injury or death, elements required to prove felony child endangerment, he said.

To prove misdemeanor endangerment, prosecutors must show only mental suffering or unjustified physical pain, Crofoot explained.

The maximum punishment for the felony charge is six years, and for the misdemeanor, six months.

Placentia police, whose officers arrested the couple on felony charges, said they agreed that a closer look warranted a lesser charge. Detective Donna Rose, the investigator in the case, said the patrolman who discovered the boy could not have known the circumstances of the child’s confinement, and was obliged to act as he did.

“It turned out he hadn’t been there for days and days,” she said. “There was no malnutrition or injury due to his confinement.”

There was redness around the child’s neck, but contrary to early reports, there were no bruises or other signs of physical abuse, Rose said. And no evidence has emerged to suggest the boy’s siblings, ages 7, 5 and 3, have been abused, she said.

All four children are being held at Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange. At a hearing set for Monday, a Juvenile Court judge is expected to decide whether the children should be returned to their parents, said Deputy Public Defender Jamalyn Ollinger, who represents Martinez.

Ollinger said she believes Martinez and Ventura will seek return of their three younger children, but might request some form of help with the 9-year-old. They have said he was chained because he is a chronic discipline problem, refusing to stay home.

The judge could place the children back home with their parents, or with relatives, Ollinger said, or could decide on a temporary foster placement.