Ex-Girlfriend Denies She Abused Toddler

A 22-year-old former heroin addict denied Wednesday that she was an abusive caretaker who falsely accused her ex-boyfriend of murder after a toddler left in her care two years ago died from a blow to the head.

Teresa Rodriguez implicated 33-year-old Patrick Santillano four months after Oxnard police arrested her on suspicion of abusing and neglecting 14-month-old Demitri Robledo, who lived with the couple while his mother served time on drug charges.

Rodriguez told Ventura County Superior Court jurors this week that Santillano, an Oxnard drug dealer, slapped, gagged and bound the child’s wrists and ankles because the boy’s crying irritated him when he was shooting heroin. She testified that he forbade her from seeking a doctor for the injured boy.

On cross-examination Wednesday, Santillano’s attorney, Steve Powell, tried to show that it was Rodriguez, not his client, who abused the child, even as she blatantly disregarded the welfare of her own unborn child by using heroin while eight months pregnant.

“You were living, breathing, eating, sleeping and shooting for two, right?” Powell asked her.

“Yes,” Rodriguez answered, admitting that she used heroin up to six times a day during the last month of Demitri’s life and the final month of her pregnancy. Her son, Michael, was born addicted to heroin the same night Demitri died.

An autopsy revealed that Demitri had suffered a dislocated elbow, lesions from restraints tied around his ankles and wrists, and wounds to his mouth and ears from being gagged.

Rodriguez denied that she ever tied up the child. But she acknowledged replacing a sock stuffed in Demitri’s mouth, allegedly by Santillano, saying she feared he would become more abusive if she protested.

Animosity between the former lovers has been evident throughout her testimony, and Wednesday’s cross-examination was no exception.

At first, Rodriguez refused to look at Powell because Santillano was seated next to him. After Powell asked his client to scoot his chair over, Rodriguez said she would look at Powell only if Santillano turned his back to the witness stand. Powell balked at the request, but Santillano agreed and turned his back to the witness.

Powell spent the next two hours assailing Rodriguez’s credibility. He accused her of lying in her statements to police and hospital workers and suggested that she created a false story to frame Santillano and spare herself from a murder conviction.

Eight months after her arrest, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and mayhem in connection with Demitri’s death on Oct. 22, 2000, telling prosecutors that Santillano tortured the boy. As part of her plea, Rodriguez agreed to testify against Santillano, the father of her two children and her live-in boyfriend from late 1997 until the time of Demitri’s death.

She faces 12 years in state prison when sentenced next month. Santillano faces life in prison if convicted on charges of murder, torture and mayhem.

Asked about the timing of her accusations, Rodriguez told jurors this week that she initially kept quiet and told police “a bunch of lies” because she feared Santillano’s arrest would result in her 2-year-old daughter being placed in foster care.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez denied that her motivation was to avoid prison and testified that she was willing to tear up her plea agreement.

“You can sentence me to 25 years to life,” she said, “and I’ll still sit up here and testify because it’s the truth.”