SANTA ANA – A mother and father who malnourished their baby and exposed him to extreme temperatures, leaving the victim a quadriplegic, face 12 years in prison following their convictions for child abuse, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
John Andres Gonzalez, 38, and Jacqueline Navarro, 45, both of Lindsay, were convicted Monday of felony child abuse and endangerment with a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily injury to a child younger than 5, according to court records. Their first trial in 2022 ended with a hung jury.
The couple was staying at a Costa Mesa hotel Aug. 1, 2020, when they took their then-10-month-old son to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, prosecutors said. Physicians concluded he had low blood sugar and suffered from hypoxia and seizures, prosecutors said.
The boy was taken to Children’s Hospital of Orange County where doctors determined he was malnourished, which led to the hypoxia and seizures. The couple are “vegan muscus-free fruitarians” and would only feed the baby soy-based formula, fruits and vegetables, prosecutors said.
The parents, who legally represented themselves at trial, subscribe to naturopathy and would put their baby in hot saunas and ice baths and rejected formula and breast milk as toxic, prosecutors said.
The boy is now 5 and blind and unable to walk or speak or eat without help, prosecutors said. The boy’s grandmother has custody, prosecutors said.
