Mother of Girls Hit by Train Pleads No Contest in Drug Case

The mother of two small girls who were fatally struck by a commuter train last year has pleaded no contest to charges of drug use in a case unrelated to her daughters’ deaths.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Robles, 22, entered the plea as part of a plea bargain Thursday. Besides drug use, Robles was charged with petty theft and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Fredgren. She was sentenced to 150 days in jail and three years’ probation.

The case stems from an arrest last month at an Upland hotel room, where authorities found Robles with a man and two juveniles. The group had been drinking and using methamphetamine, police said.

At the time of her arrest, Robles was awaiting trial on a petty theft charge for allegedly trying to steal a pair of sneakers from a Mervyn’s department store in March.

Robles was already on probation for a December arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence of methamphetamine. She has already pleaded no contest to that charge.

Last October, Robles’ daughters, Alexes Robles, 3, and Deziree Soto, 22 months, wandered from their Upland apartment and onto nearby railroad tracks. They were killed by a Metrolink commuter train.

Robles told authorities she had fallen asleep that morning. She was not charged in that case.

She is still attempting to regain custody of her third child, 9-month-old Fernando Soto Jr., who has been living with an aunt.

Robles and her fiance, Fernando Soto, have also filed two lawsuits totaling $30 million against Metrolink charging that the transit agency was negligent because there was no fence protecting the tracks.