Couple Deny Torturing Boy, 3

An Oxnard couple with a history of child abuse pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of torturing their 3-year-old son by submerging him in a bathtub of scalding water and failing to treat the burns immediately.

Alfredo and Maria Esquivel, both 25, were charged with seven felony counts--two of which carry possible life sentences--stemming from the Dec. 22 incident. Bail was set at $250,000 for each, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 14.

In court, Deputy Dist. Atty. David Lehr said Alfredo Esquivel admitted to causing the boy’s burns in the couple’s home in the La Colonia section of Oxnard. Authorities said the child, the second-youngest of four, had soiled his pants on the way to the bathroom before the couple gave him the scalding bath.

“I can’t say whether they were trying to punish him,” said Oxnard Det. Ken Clopman, who investigated the case. “But they should have known how hot it was when they held him in there.”

San Diego County notified Oxnard police of the alleged abuse after the boy’s grandmother brought him to a Tijuana hospital, which then transferred him to UC San Diego Medical Center, Lehr said.

The boy, who turned 3 on Christmas day, suffered second- and third-degree burns on 20% of his body from the 146-degree bathwater, Clopman said.

He said the Esquivels attempted to treat the burns using home remedies, including egg whites and aloe vera, which only made the boy’s condition worse. In the 18 hours before he received proper medical treatment, the boy also suffered life-threatening infections, Clopman said.

At one point, the child risked death or amputation of his toes, feet or legs, but he now is in stable condition, Clopman said.

Defense attorneys for the Esquivels were not immediately available for comment.

Monday’s arraignment in Ventura County Superior Court came nearly three years after the Esquivels were convicted of beating their then-2-year-old daughter in South Lake Tahoe.

Lisa J. Serafini, the El Dorado County deputy district attorney who filed that case, said Alfredo Esquivel had confessed to hitting the girl with objects such as an electrical cord and a sandal.

His wife admitted to being present at the time and to providing him with the objects, Serafini said.

In April 1999, Alfredo Esquivel pleaded guilty to one felony count and was sentenced to 270 days in County Jail, a psychological evaluation and anger-management classes.

Two months later, Maria Esquivel pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 45 sessions of parenting classes, said El Dorado County Superior Court officials.

The couple also were sentenced to three years’ probation, Serafini said, but El Dorado County Judge Suzanne Kingsbury granted early termination of that probation on Nov. 30, 2001.

In April 2001, sources said, the same judge released the three oldest children, including the boy who was later burned, from foster care back to the Esquivels.

The case involving the girl began in 1998, Serafini said, when officials at an El Dorado County welfare office noticed bruises on the 2-year-old’s face. Doctors determined that some of the bruises were caused by the Esquivels’ attempts to force-feed her.

“The prior case demonstrates their inability to modify their behavior to safely parent children,” Serafini said.

Some of the circumstances in the Esquivel matter mirror those of another Ventura County child-abuse case.

In 1998, Rogelio Hernandez, then 20, was sentenced to 42 years to life in prison for torturing to death his 2-year-old daughter, Joselin. His wife, Gabriela, now 24, did not stop the torture and was sentenced to 15 years to life, but later had her conviction overturned.

She pleaded guilty to lesser charges the day her new trial was to begin and has been serving an 11-year prison sentence since March.

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Times staff writer Holly J. Wolcott contributed to this story.