The parents who brought their non -recruiting newborn to the hospital of Orange in 2020 were convicted of a crime for abuse of children this week, on accusing that they exposed the baby to extreme heat and cold and failed to provide the necessary nourishment, causing the brain and unable to leave.
The 38 -year -old John Andres Gonzalez and the 45 -year -old Jackelin Navarro were convicted of abuse of children and threatening, with an improvement in causing major bodily harm to a child under 5 years, according to the Orange District Prosecutor’s Office. Each of them faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.
Prosecutors said the couple is considered to be “vegan fruit lines” that seem to refer to the belief in a diet aimed at removing mucus from the body. They were also followers of naturopathy, prosecutors said, which usually means using a more comprehensive approach to prevent and treat diseases by dealing with the root causes.
But Gonzalez and Navaro seem to have used deliberate and extreme views associated with these practices, including that the body can be healed and that breast milk is toxic, according to prosecutors and court cases. They will only feed the formula, fruits and vegetables based on the baby, prosecutors say. In a court case, his paternal grandmother said the couple had tried to keep the baby on a plant -based diet and, above all, fed him mixed bananas and dates with honey.
Medical professionals, including naturopaths, recommend breastfeeding a baby during their first six months of life for optimal nutrition or using a formula almost exclusively.
Within weeks after the birth of their son, the couple also began to put him in high -temperature saunas and ice baths, prosecutors said.
Read more: Parents arrested after 9-month tests positive for cocaine in Tulare County
Authorities of Orange County became involved in the case when the couple brought their limping, an incomprehensible son to the Emergency Division for hospital hospital in Newport Beach, where they were on vacation. The couple lived in Lindsay, Tulare County.
“The baby was gray in color, tired and catatonic,” prosecutors said. “Doctors in the emergency room have found that the boy has extremely low blood sugar levels and suffers from hypoxia and constant attacks.”
The more current tests have confirmed that he was not fed properly, prosecutors said. But even during the hospital stay, Gonzalez objected to many rescue treatments and said that “he believes starvation will lead to healing,” prosecutors said in a statement.
The brain damage that the boy has suffered is constantly, according to doctors, which causes him to be quadral, blind and unable to speak, walk or eat alone. The boy is already 5 and under the care of his paternal grandmother.
The grandmother was concerned about her grandson shortly after she was born and repeatedly called the Tulare County Service Division to report possible abuse or neglect.
She filed a lawsuit against the Social Assistance Agency in the county, claiming that the agency had failed to defend its grandson, which led to the constant damage to the child’s brain. This case was settled in 2023 for $ 32 million, which at that time was considered the most big deal received by the Children’s Protection Agency for children in California.
“This innocent child suffers from almost the first breath he has taken over because of his parents’ beliefs that hunger will cure him,” Orange County. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “Instead of healing him, they robbed him out of his gaze, his ability to take his first steps, to say his first words and his chance to see the world.
Currently, Gonzalez and Navarro are being held without guarantee and will be sentenced on July 25.
Register for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from LA Times and then in your mailbox six days a week.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.