Boy Drowns in Neighbor’s Pool After Wandering From Mother : Accident: Santa Ana 2-year-old is the seventh child to die so far this year in county swimming pools or spas.

A 2-year-old boy drowned Monday after he wandered from his mother and apparently fell into a neighbor’s pool. He was the seventh child to die in a swimming pool or spa so far this year in Orange County.

Juan Carlos Quintana was gone for 5 or 10 minutes before his mother realized it, police said. He was found face down in the neighbor’s pool.

Police and paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive the boy, who was taken to Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center in Garden Grove. He died shortly after the 8:20 p.m. accident, which occurred in the 900 block of North Jackson Street.

The house has a wrought iron fence around the entire property, but the gate is always open, said neighbor Annabeth Ambriz, a 20-year resident of the neighborhood.

Mirna Pineda, 12, who lives at the house with the pool, said she had seen a group of children walk toward her back yard. A while later, another neighbor arrived asking if she had seen Juan, Mirna said. Not knowing if he had been with the group, she went to the back yard to look, she said, and saw him in the swimming pool.

“He was just lying at the bottom of the pool.”

Mirna said she jumped in and pulled him out.

Ambriz said the child was fully dressed and may have fallen into the pool while trying to catch frogs that are in the back yard. She added that the boy’s family had moved to the neighborhood just three weeks ago.

“I heard a scream and I came out to ask what was going on and one of the neighbors said a child had drowned,” Ambriz said.

Santa Ana Police Sgt. Dick Faust said: “Because of the fact the child was left unattended for 5 to 10 minutes, we don’t know if we are going to file any charges or the D.A. will or whatever. It’s really sketchy information right now.”

In addition to the seven children who have now drowned in pools or spas in Orange County in the past five months, 18 other children have nearly drowned. Of those, two suffered permanent brain damage.

According to county records, as many as 100 children under age 5 drown or nearly drown in back-yard pools and spas in an average year.

Drowning is consistently the leading cause of accidental death in the county for children younger than 4 years old.