Santa Rosa teen mother jailed in beating of infant son

A young Santa Rosa mother has been jailed on allegations of brutally beating her infant son, who is currently at a hospital in Oakland being treated for multiple injuries, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

Monserrat Salgado, 19, was arrested Monday and arraigned Wednesday on two felony counts of physical child abuse with a two-count enhancement for inflicting injury on a child under the age of 5 - allegations that surprised and bewildered relatives, including the infant’s father, who said it seemed out of character for her to hurt her newborn.

“I can’t imagine her doing that. She’s always been an amazing mother,” said Junior Vera Vega, who had the woman’s name tattooed on the right side of his neck, while a tattoo of their son’s name, Angel, covered a section of his head.

Vega, 21, said he had been with Salgado for three years and helped raise her daughter from a previous relationship. Salgado, who worked at a hotel in Santa Rosa, never lost her patience with the kids, he said.

“She was sweet. She was always good with my son and daughter,” said Vega, who credited the woman for helping him turn around his life, moving away from drugs and bad influences.

Salgado’s case has received international coverage in ?Spanish-language media. She is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday and is being held at the Sonoma County Jail on $160,000 bail.

Sheriff’s officials said that at 11:22 a.m. Sunday, a 2½- month-old infant was brought to a local hospital emergency room. Officials said the baby was suffering from serious injuries, and medical staff alerted the Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s detectives with the domestic violence and sexual assault unit interviewed family members and others involved in the child’s care.

Salgado could not adequately explain the circumstances surrounding the baby’s injuries, and she was arrested early Monday , the Sheriff’s Office said.

The Sheriff’s Office described the case as an open and active investigation and did not release additional details Friday.

The suspect’s mother, Sara Salgado, said accusations that her daughter beat the baby are false. She said the injuries were a result of an accident but she couldn’t disclose more because of the ongoing investigation.

“I’m sure it was an accident,” she said in a phone interview Friday night.

A deputy public defender appointed to Salgado’s case did not immediately respond to a phone call or email seeking comment Friday afternoon.

Sitting under the carport of his family’s home in south Santa Rosa, Vega tried to make sense of what led to the hospitalization of his son, who, he said, has been showing signs of improvement.

“He’s doing better,” Vega said. “He’s eating on his own. He’s breathing on his own.”

Vega said his girlfriend became angry after she saw him chatting with a female neighbor Saturday and ran inside their northeast Santa Rosa apartment. When he came in, he said, she was in the bathroom, giving the baby a bath before putting him to bed.

Vega said he never entered the bathroom or noticed anything wrong with the baby that night. He said Salgado appeared calm.

“We had a regular night after that,” he said. “We were cuddling.”

He said Salgado came to him the next morning, saying the baby was sick and needed to go to Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa. Vega said he got to the hospital about a half-hour after Salgado arrived. Detectives already were there wanting to talk to her about the baby, who then was taken to Children’s Hospital Oakland, he said.

Vega said he has gone to the jail to visit Salgado, who he says told him she never hit their son but dropped him accidentally.

“I’m telling her to tell the truth,” said Vega, who planned to return to Oakland on Friday night to be with his son.

Relatives provided conflicting accounts of the infant’s injuries and what led to them.

The boy’s paternal grandmother, Ana Vega of Santa Rosa, told the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision that Salgado beat the infant during an outburst and that Salgado never wanted the baby but only had the child to please her son.

Ana Vega said in the Univision report, which aired internationally, that the infant was shaken, hit in the eye and suffered a broken hand. Salgado was arrested hours after taking the boy to the hospital, according to the report.

Junior Vega said the infant wasn’t shaken or hit in the eye and that his mother got the information mixed up. He said the baby had problems with his arm, but it wasn’t broken.

However, he said it was a shock to see the tiny child covered in breathing and feeding tubes at the hospital.

“I was scared,” said the boy’s father, who is trying to get custody of the boy and Salgado’s daughter. “My son means the world to me.”

The baby had been unconscious for several days, Ana Vega told The Press Democrat.

While sitting on her front porch Friday, Ana Vega said she was surprised by the arrest. She said her son and Salgado had lived in her home for six months before moving into their own apartment.

“I’m not angry with her,” Ana Vega said in Spanish. “I just feel hurt.”

Sara Salgado said people have been calling her home, threatening to kill her family, since the Univision report aired. Someone also broke her husband’s car windows, said Salgado, who plans to file a lawsuit against the Vega family for comments made in the TV interview. She said she also had been receiving calls from relatives in Mexico since the report aired on “Primer Impacto.”

“I will do the impossible to clear my daughter’s name,” Sara Salgado said.

“She’s innocent,” she said. “She loves them (children) tremendously. I’m a witness to that.”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Writer Eloisa Gonzalez at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com.