Baby Is Badly Hurt; Parents Jailed

A Lake Forest couple have been arrested on suspicion of child abuse for allegedly beating and biting their 4-week-old son.

The baby, whose name was not released, was born Dec. 4. He is in critical condition in the neonatal care unit at Mission Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, said Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.

The parents told deputies that the family cat bit their baby, but investigators determined the bites were human, Amormino said.

“This is horrific, and there’s no excuse for what happened to this baby,” he said.

Andrew David Fusco, 20, and Megan Michelle Martinez, 19, were arrested Monday night. Fusco was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly beating the baby with his fists, and with felony child endangerment. Martinez was charged with felony child endangerment. Each is being held at Orange County Jail on $100,000 bail.

The couple took the baby to an urgent-care center in Lake Forest earlier Monday. Amormino said doctors saw the bite marks, discovered multiple fractures and called paramedics to transfer the child to a hospital.

“The investigators saw the injuries on the child didn’t match up to the story given to them about the cat doing the biting,” Amormino said.

He said investigators were also trying to determine if the baby had been sexually abused because he had “sustained additional injuries.” He declined to elaborate.

Fusco and Martinez are scheduled to be arraigned today at Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.