CRIMINAL JUSTICE |
After taking an online pounding, Monterey County authorities are making it clear that the missing 14-year-old mother whose newborn died in the dark at the edge of a field last month is not being sought on criminal charges.
District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced today that her office intends to charge the baby’s fugitive father with murder but has no plan to prosecute the baby’s young mother, viewing her instead as a victim of the father. That suspect, 38-year-old entertainer Sergio Galvez Perez of Castroville is believed to be hiding with his teenaged daughter in Mexico, where he is from. California and federal law enforcement are involved in the search.
Pacioni’s announcement follows the news last week that Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto, without assistance from the DA’s Office, had obtained a warrant authorizing the teenager’s arrest. Televised news about that plan generated hundreds or thousands of online responses accusing Monterey County authorities of living in the dark ages when female rape victims were commonly written off as hysterical.
Nieto said Thursday after Pacioni’s statement that her office clearly understands the law on such cases and had good reason to obtain a murder warrant for the 14-year-old, though it is no longer in play.
About the facts of the case, the sheriff said, “They’re horrible.”
“There are some highly unusual aspects to this case,” another sheriff’s official said after insisting on anonymity.
Though she didn’t quite say so in her news release Thursday, Pacioni apparently was responding to people and organizations that had objected to the Sheriff’s Office initial plan to arrest the girl. The Sheriff’s Office announcement that it was seeking charges against the 14-year-old girl along with her father generated considerable social media commentary and, according to various accounts, complaints to officialdom. Just one KRON-TV report last week sparked more than 1,000 comments on X, almost all of them extremely critical of the local authorities.
Perhaps signaling some tension between the two law enforcement agencies most involved in the case, Pacioni said in her announcement that her office had not been involved in obtaining the arrest warrant for the 14-year-old and that her office had not yet seen any investigative reports from the sheriff.
Nieto said reports went to the DA’s Office on Tuesday.
Monterey County Supervisor Wendy Root Askew was one of those upset by the sheriff’s announcement last week. She wrote on Facebook that she was deeply disturbed by the possible arrest of the girl.
“A child cannot consent to sex with an adult. A child who was sexually abused, who became pregnant because of that abuse, and who is being hidden by that man suspected of abusing her is a victim,” she wrote.
Root Askew said she had spoken with the relevant authorities and learned that they are focused on finding the girl and getting her immediate medical and “trauma-informed care.”
The one person already arrested in connection with the case is Ofelia Garcia Ortega, 36, of Castroville and Salinas. She is believed to be the grandmother of the dead girl. She was arrested on a child endangerment charge shortly after the baby was found. Authorities are reported to be considering additional charges against her, though details remain incomplete.
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