Mother of teen girl whose baby was found dead arrested in Monterey County

The mother of a 14-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and impregnated by her own father was arrested at a Salinas courthouse Tuesday, two days after authorities announced that the teenager was rescued in Mexico.

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Ofelia Garcia Ortega, 36, is accused of putting her daughter to work in agricultural fields at age 13 using falsified documentation, having her to drive without a license and keeping her out of school for months.

The arrest is the latest development in the investigation into the death of “Baby Angelita,” who was discovered beside a rural Monterey County road on Aug. 1. Authorities say Sergio Galvez Perez, 38, is the biological father of both the teenager and her baby. He was arrested in Mexico over the weekend during the operation that rescued his daughter following a search and an Amber Alert.

Detectives arrested Garcia Ortega without incident at approximately 2:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Monterey County Superior courthouse, according to the sheriff’s office. 

Garcia Ortega faces two felony counts of displaying or possessing a forged identification card, one misdemeanor count of permitting a child to suffer or be endangered and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She is being held on $150,000 bail, jail records show. 

Garcia Ortega was previously arrested in August on suspicion of felony child endangerment and released on bail. It is unclear whether that earlier allegation will be pursued separately from the newly filed charges. Investigators said in August she had failed to seek medical care for her daughter when the circumstances should have prompted her to do so. Detectives also found four other children in the family home in conditions they considered unsafe, SFGATE previously reported.

Her arrest follows Sunday’s announcement that Mexican law enforcement had rescued the teenager and arrested Perez after finding him in possession of narcotics. The pair were found in the Mexican state of Chihuahua over the weekend, and the teenager is in the care of Mexican child protective services, KSBW-TV reported. Perez faces three felony counts in Monterey County Superior Court: a lewd act upon a child younger than 14, incest and child abuse.

Those three counts do not include a homicide charge over Baby Angelita’s death. Sunday’s sheriff’s statement did not give a timetable for Perez’s return to California or confirm whether extradition proceedings had begun. Monterey County detectives worked with the FBI and Mexican authorities to secure the girl’s rescue, Sheriff Tina Nieto said in a statement Sunday.

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The investigation began when emergency responders were called to the 100 block of Struve Road, north of Moss Landing, at approximately 8:30 a.m. Aug. 1. The newborn was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators said evidence indicated that the teenager had delivered the baby beside the road, placed her on the ground and left. A postmortem examination found signs of traumatic injury, but authorities did not disclose the specific injuries in their initial announcement.

During the search for Perez, SFGATE reported on videos showing him singing and playing guitar beside a young girl at a keyboard. The recordings appeared on the Facebook page of his musical act, El Águila Real y Su Ritmo Sabroso.

The sheriff’s handling of the case drew scrutiny after Nieto publicly described the apparent victim of incest and sexual abuse as a “murder suspect.” Detectives had obtained a judge’s warrant for her arrest over the newborn’s death. The district attorney’s office subsequently clarified that it had filed no charges against her and emphasized that it considered the teenager a victim.

The sheriff’s office has scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. Thursday to provide more information about the rescue, Perez’s arrest and the ongoing investigation.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673 in the U.S.