Oxnard Farm Worker Pleads Guilty in Son’s Death

An Oxnard farm worker blamed for the death of her 2-year-old son last year pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of child endangerment.

Virginia Cervantes, 29, could receive a maximum sentence of seven years and four months in prison when she is sentenced July 30 by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch.

Cervantes and her husband, Jose Ambriz, 59, were arrested March 10 while working in a Camarillo strawberry field. Their son, Rene Ambriz, died June 10, 1991, of a severe head injury. Investigators said he also had a broken leg, chest burns and scars, a black eye and bruises on one hip.

The Ventura County Grand Jury indicted the couple in April on four child-abuse counts. Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrice D. Koenig said prosecutors had considered filing murder charges, but could not establish who inflicted the fatal injury.

Cervantes started to explain her conduct Wednesday when Judge Lawrence Storch asked if she agreed to the guilty plea.

“We didn’t know enough to take him to the doctor and the hospital,” Cervantes said in Spanish.

“I’m not asking for an explanation,” Storch said.

“Yes, I am guilty,” said Cervantes, who is being held in Ventura County Jail.

Behind her in the spectator area sat her husband, who posted bail and is due in court today. Ambriz began to enter a guilty plea on Wednesday, but Storch halted the proceeding, saying Ambriz’s answers indicated that he did not understand what he was doing.

Cervantes, who is pregnant, and Ambriz have five other children, who have been placed in foster homes.