Child Abuse Suspects Going To Trial

[DailyDi]

A South Valley judge says two Hanford parents are going to trial on charges of child abuse.

Police say Ricardo and Heidi Hernandez tied their child to his bed for eight days.

They say Ricardo Hernandez bound the boy's hands and even tied one foot to the bed.

The boy was also forced to wear his younger brother's pull-up diapers and was only untied for meals.

If convicted, they both face up to six years in prison.

[DailyDi]

Police say this is one of the most bizarre cases they've ever seen.

The couple was arrested last week and was arraigned Monday in Kings county. They've both been charged with abuse and false imprisonment of their own child.

A Hanford couple is in jail tonight accused of child abuse.

Police say Heidi and Ricardo Hernandez tied up their son for days, but what happened when authorities went to arrest the parents shocked even some officers.

Hanford police say 24-year-old Heidi Hernandez and her husband 32-year-old Ricardo held their 7-year-old son captive in their Hanford home.

When the boy returned to school his teacher noticed the bruises on his wrists and called police. It was then the 7-year-old told authorities exactly what happened.

Captain David Scott of the Hanford Police says, "He had claimed that the father had tied him to the bed left him tied for approximately 8 days, forced him to wear a diaper during this time, would untie him to allow him to eat but other than that kept him tied to the bed."

Police say the victim was being disciplined for fighting with his 5-year-old brother, but the parents tell police they are not to blame. They say the 5-year-old tied up his older brother.

Scott says, "We just felt that it was impossible for the 5-year-old to tie up a 7-year-old to that degree to keep him restrained and to cause those types of marks on his wrist."

The two boys were placed into protective custody, but the couple was arrested days later for a reason that even shocked officers.

Scott says, "You would think a normal person would realize that if child protective services was taking your kid you'd be concerned that you'd get to the bottom of it. Instead they went out of town for a couple days on vacation it was almost they figured they had free baby-sitting so they took advantage of it."

The district attorney says that Hernandez could face more than six years in prison for these crimes.

Police say the couple has been so uncooperative that last week while they were questioning the mother, the father tried to escape the scene unnoticed and while their two sons were in protective custody they went to Catalina.

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/news/021405_nw_tied_up.html

[Stressed]

People like that don't deserve children! That poor kid.

[Jaffar92]

i totaly agree

[BabyFreak]

That is seriously F@#ked up. Thats all i could say, That blew my mind

[Jayme]

Those pitiful excuses for parents, are nothing but fleshy bags of meat that deserve to be removed from existence.

My deepest prayers for the two children to come out unscathed.

[babymaggie]

Reading about this and other horrible things that people do to their children make me sick. Why is it always the people who should not be allowed to have children, that have them and those of us who wanted children cannot have children. I pray that the children can get the love they deserve because it is going to take a lot of love and professional help to undo the trauma they went through.