Woman Freed for Lack of Evidence in Fatal Injection

The night manager of a gift shop was released from custody Thursday without being charged in the death of an 18-month-old girl who allegedly received an injection at the store this week.

Tustin police said prosecutors concluded that they did not have enough evidence to bring any charges against Monica Bernabe, 23, who works at Los Hermanos Gift Shop.

Bernabe could not be reached for comment after her release.

The girl, Selene Segura Rios of Anaheim, died late Monday. Her parents said her death occurred after the baby was injected with what they were told was penicillin. The shop, filled with toys, purses and knickknacks in front, allegedly had illegally imported medicines in the back.

Her father, Alberto Ramirez Segura, told The Times that he and his wife took their child to Los Hermanos because her mild illness appeared to get worse after their doctor had gone home for the day.

The illness, he said, didn’t appear serious enough for a costly emergency room visit.

Lt. Mike Shanahan said police are continuing their investigation and want to speak with the “absentee owner” of the store, Oscar Eduardo King of Chula Vista, and his sister, Laura Escalante.

King did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment, but earlier had denied he was the legal owner.

Police say they recently had launched an investigation into the medical operations at Los Hermanos. An anonymous tip, written in Spanish, was sent to police in a letter postmarked in late January. It was received in early February, translated and sent to detectives, Shanahan said.

“This was no different than if we had received a tip that someone is selling methamphetamine out of their garage,” he said. “With untested, anonymous information, there is no way we can go down and do an [on site] investigation.”

“This was a typical complaint letter, and we took the exact same action we would have taken with any other complaint. The timing on this was just very tragic and unfortunate.”