Dead Baby’s Dad Accused of Molestation

A jailed print shop worker who tearfully denied any culpability in the death of his 8-month-old daughter last weekend was charged Tuesday with molesting her.

The district attorney’s office charged Jorge Perez, 34, of Santa Ana with child molestation following a coroner’s examination of the body, Lt. Bob Helton said.

Interviewed in jail on Sunday, Perez heatedly denied harming his daughter, whom he said he found plunged head-first into a hamper.

“I have nothing to lie about . . . “ Perez said. “Who feels more pain about my dear baby’s death--me or the police? I’m already suffering because she died, and now they accuse me of killing her.”

Police went to a house in the 600 block of Borchard Avenue on Friday afternoon in response to a 911 call that a baby there had stopped breathing. The child, Kenya Perez, was dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

Police called in child abuse investigators after the baby died, and Jorge Perez was arrested. A second, 8-year-old daughter who lived in the rented room was taken to Orangewood Children’s Home.

Perez said Sunday that he had taken a nap with Kenya next to him about 2:15 p.m. Friday, but when he awoke an hour later she was gone. When he got up he said he discovered the baby upside down in an empty clothes hamper near the bed.

Perez speculated that Kenya woke up while he slept, fell into the hamper and suffocated, despite his efforts to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation and call for help.

Police said Perez gave inconsistent counts of what had happened.

He has not been charged with the death pending toxicological tests, police said.

“We have not been able to determine the exact cause of death,” Helton said.

If convicted of the four molestation charges, Perez faces a maximum of 14 years in jail.

In another case involving an infant last weekend, the 6-week-old son of Juan Carlos Rivera of Buena Park remains in critical condition. Rivera, 20, remains in jail, booked on suspicion child abuse.

Police said doctors at Children’s Hospital of Orange County determined that the infant had been violently shaken and had suffered brain damage.

Buena Park Sgt. Bob Cheney said Tuesday that new information had surfaced in the case, but he declined to provide details. Cheney said additional interviews were needed with witnesses and others familiar with the family before police take the case to the district attorney.