Mother accused of neglecting child with special needs
Sheriff’s deputies in Mora found an emaciated 7-year-old child with special needs locked in a bedroom without access to needed medical care, according to court records.
Serena Marquez, 26, of Mora, has been charged with one felony count of abuse of a child not resulting in death or great bodily harm.
Deputies from the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office and the Mora County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home in Mora on Sept. 6 after the child was discovered locked in a bedroom, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Mora Magistrate Court on Sept. 21. The child was discovered by two workers hired to paint the home.
While preparing the home for paint, the workers heard “whimpering” coming from a bedroom, according to the affidavit, but believed the noise was a dog inside the room.
The workers had also been asked by Marquez for an estimate on replacing some windows, and when the workers went inside the home to measure the windows, they encountered a “filthy” home with a “very foul smell,” described as human excrement or dirty diapers, according to the affidavit.
Inside a bedroom, workers found the 7-year-old child in a soiled diaper. They equated the child’s appearance to that of a skeleton, and said the child was chewing on what appeared to be a wooden stick, according to the affidavit. What appeared to be an “old hot dog’ cut into pieces was also near the child.
Investigators stated the child is “severely disabled” and said the child “requires constant care” and a feeding tube, which was not inserted, according to the affidavit. Deputies allege Marquez locked the child in a room unsupervised and without proper medical care, and the Children, Youth & Families Department has since removed the child from the home.
Deputies said Marquez made a statement and said she knew she’d messed up, and that she’d been feeling overwhelmed.
Marquez retained attorney Marc Grano on Sept. 16, and an arrest warrant for Marquez was issued Sept. 21. Soon after, Grano filed a motion to quash the warrant, citing that the warrant had been issued without Marquez’s knowledge, and that she is not a flight risk. The motion asked the court to allow Marquez to remain free until trial because she has no criminal history and has strong ties to the community.
The motion was granted, and at a Sept. 22 hearing, Judge Cindy Garza released Marquez on her own recognizance.
Marquez was also ordered to remain in her home every evening from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. On Oct. 8, Judge Garza granted a motion filed by Marquez’s attorney that asked the court to allow Marquez to travel to Union County to visit family, even if the trip falls outside those curfew hours.
Marquez is scheduled to appear in Mora Magistrate Court Nov. 16 for a preliminary hearing.