A 22-year-old Santa Ana man was charged Wednesday with attacking his nearly 2-week-old son, who suffered serious injuries.
Jonathan Reyes pleaded not guilty to child abuse and endangerment counts, with sentencing enhancement allegations of causing great bodily injury on a child younger than 5 and committing a crime while out on bail for a separate crime, and was ordered to return to court Aug. 29 for a pretrial hearing at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
The infant’s mother left him in his father’s care while she took a nap on Monday, said Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.
“When she woke up from her nap, she found the child badly beaten, so she immediately took the kid to (Children’s Hospital of Orange County) and the doctors called us,” Bertagna said.
The 13-day infant sustained internal injuries, a skull fracture and tested positive for methamphetamine, Bertagna said. It is not clear how the drug got in the baby’s system, but investigators suspect it came from his father, who allegedly has a meth drug habit, Bertagna said.
The infant remained hospitalized on Wednesday in critical condition, Bertagna said.
Reyes had been out of custody on $5,000 bail in a case in which he’s accused of robbing two victims March 14 in Santa Ana using a sharp object, such as a box cutter, Bertagna said.