ELIEL SOTO Jr - 1 yo - York PA

Father Charged In Drowning Death Of 1-Year-Old Son

Police: Andres Soto-Diaz's Son Drowned In Bath Tub


POSTED: 2:51 pm EST February 16, 2011




YORK, Pa. -- York police have charged a father in the drowning death of his 1-year-old son.Police arrested Andres Soto-Diaz, 28, on Wednesday.Investigators
said he was alone with his son, Eliel Soto Jr., on Aug. 23 when the
child drowned in a bath tub of a home in the 600 block of East Market
Street.Soto-Diaz is charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of children.

http://www.wgal.com/news/26889184/detail.html

DA, experts weigh in on what makes one toddler death worthy of charges but others not


Eliel Soto Jr. (SUBMITTED)
York, PA -
A father forgot to get his 15-month-old daughter from the van after
returning home in August 2008, and the toddler died in the heat.He wasn't charged.
A father moved a gun to a lower shelf in a bedroom closet, and his
2-year-old son found it and mortally wounded himself last year.He wasn't charged.
A father was giving his 17-month-old son a bath when he walked away and the boy drowned.
He was charged.All three cases involved accidental deaths. District attorneys have wide
discretion whether to bring charges, and their decisions are
unreviewable, law experts say.Police charged Andres Soto-Diaz, 28, of York last week
with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of children in the death of Eliel Soto Jr.
Andres Soto-Diaz (Submitted)


The father told police that he put the child in the tub, plugged the
drain and turned on the shower while his uncle went to the bar to get
him a beer, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
When the uncle returned with the beer, they walked to the back of the
apartment and talked for about a half-hour, the affidavit states. The
parents ran to the bathroom after the boy's mother came home and asked
where Eliel was.They found the boy floating in the tub, court papers state.
Soto-Diaz and Cynthia Castillo, Eliel's mother, have said the baby's death was an accident.
If he chose to go drink and abandon the child, that is a conscious
disregard for the boy, which is recklessness, York County District
Attorney Tom Kearney said.Prosecutors look at the totality of the circumstances, former District
Attorney Stan Rebert said. What is the age of the parent? How mature is
the parent? What is the explanation? Is the person remorseful? Is the
person believable?Wesley M. Oliver, an associate professor of law with Widener Law School
in Harrisburg, said a district attorney could have given all of these
fathers a pass.But he also can understand why a district attorney would charge Eliel's
father. The facts are different in the cases, and the situations even
feel different, Oliver said.For example, the danger of dying is more immediate when a baby is in the
bathtub, he said. A child can drown quickly and, in this case, police
say the father left the baby unattended for 30 minutes.
A child forgotten in a car -- while a reprehensible act -- will not die immediately, he said.
In that case, the mother had gotten the couple's three older children
out of the van and asked her husband to get the baby and some packages.
He forgot the baby, officials reported.Rebert said at the time that it was a
tragedy caused by carelessness. It was not reckless or criminally negligent.
Soto-Diaz's actions -- leaving the baby in a dangerous situation for 30
minutes -- feels different than a father leaving a gun in the closet and
a toddler finding it. Investigators in the gun case said the parents
thought the gun was hidden from view under clothing, but the toddler saw
it from underneath wire shelving."You just don't abandon your kid,"
Oliver said, referring to the bathtub death.Temple University law professor Edward Ohlbaum,
however, questions why the district attorney chose to prosecute Soto-Diaz when, to him, the
situations seem similar.So this father got preoccupied with the uncle, he said. What's the
difference? The affidavit does not state how much beer -- if any --
Soto-Diaz drank that night.It appears that the father was sober enough to be read his Miranda
rights soon after Eliel's death, then waive them and give police a
statement, Ohlbaum said."I've got some questions," Ohlbaum said.

http://www.inyork.com/local/ci_17437942

Man charged in death left child unattended, police say
York, Pa. -

YORK, Pa. (WHTM) - A man charged in the August drowning death of a 17-month-old boy had left the child alone in a bathtub, according to police.

Andres Soto-Diaz placed Eliel Soto Jr. in the tub with the shower running and left the child unattended when someone came to visit, police said.

The toddler was found face down and unresponsive when Soto-Diaz's girlfriend came home to the apartment at 665 E. Market Street. He was later pronounced dead at York Hospital.

Soto-Diaz was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.

http://www.abc27.com/story/14049315/man-charged-in-death-left-child-alone-police-say?redirected=true

Plea negotiations go on in child's drowning


Plea negotiations are ongoing for a former York City man charged in the drowning death of his young son last summer.
Andres Soto-Diaz, 28, now of East End Avenue in Lancaster, remains free on bail, charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.
Senior deputy prosecutor Amy Eyster confirmed she is negotiating with the man's Lancaster-based attorney, Alan Goldberg.
There's no evidence to suggest Soto-Diaz intended to harm his 17-month-old son, Eliel Junior Soto, according to Eyster.
"It just sounds like a horrific accident," she said. But there are still legal consequences, Eyster said.
On Thursday, Soto-Diaz appeared before District Judge Linda Williams and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He is scheduled for formal court arraignment on May 20.

The background: Eliel drowned in the bathtub of the family's former home in the 600 block of East Market Street about 5:30 p.m. Aug. 23, police said. In January, after receiving results of routine toxicology tests, the York County Coroner's Office ruled the death an accidental drowning.
The toxicology tests came back negative, the coroner's office has said.
York City Detective Matthew Luchko said Soto-Diaz's actions that day were reckless, which is why he was criminally charged.
"He placed (Eliel) in the bathtub, put the stopper in the tub and turned the shower on," Luchko said. "Someone came to visit him, and he left the room for approximately 30 minutes and forgot about his child in the bathroom. When his girlfriend came home, he realized what he had done and they ran to the bathroom and found the child (unresponsive)."
CPR was done on Eliel and he was rushed to York Hospital, but he could not be saved, police said.
Eliel's mother, Cynthia Castillo, was not charged because she was at school when Eliel drowned, according to Luchko.
Police filed charges against Soto-Diaz in February.
Negligence alleged: Although involuntary manslaughter is generally a misdemeanor, this specific charge is graded as a second-degree felony because Eliel was less than 12 years old, Luchko said. The child-endangerment charge is a misdemeanor.
Eyster said the charges are warranted because Soto-Diaz was the direct cause of Eliel's death through his alleged "negligence and recklessness."
Soto-Diaz and Castillo declined comment after Thursday's court proceeding, but spoke with The York Dispatch in the days after their son's death.
"It was a very terrible accident," Castillo said. She said Soto-Diaz is a gentle, attentive father; the couple also have a young daughter together.
"Now I know how pain feels," Soto-Diaz said at the time. "You try to protect your kids so much. Why did this happen? We had all these plans."
http://www.inyork.com/local/ci_17855900

Eliel Soto

Father of drowned toddler pleads to manslaughter

Andres Soto-Diaz will faces nine to 16 months in jail at his Sept. sentencing.

York, PA - A father who forgot he left his young son in the bathtub pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment Thursday in York County court.

Eliel Junior Soto, 11/2, drowned in his parents' apartment in the 600 block of East Market Street on Aug. 23.

Andres Soto-Diaz, 28, told York City Police he was changing his son's diaper when his uncle arrived. He said he asked his uncle to go to a bar and get him a beer and then he put the child in the bathtub, put in the stopper and turned on the shower.

When his uncle returned with the beer, he said, they moved to the back of the apartment to talk.
When the boy's mother arrived about 30 minutes later, Soto-Diaz opened the door for her
and she asked where the baby was.


Andres Soto-Diaz


They ran to the bathroom and found the child floating in the water, police said.

Senior deputy prosecutor Amy Eyster said Thursday Soto-Diaz faces a standard range sentence of nine to 16 months in county prison on the manslaughter charge.
She said Soto-Diaz will undergo a mental health evaluation to determine if there is anything "that shows he is less culpable" for the baby's death.
She said he also faces a lengthy probationary sentence on the endangerment charge.
Soto-Diaz is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 19.

http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18524474

Sentence 09/19/2011 9:00 am Courtroom 5 Judge Michael E. Bortner Moved
Sentence 10/28/2011 9:00 am Courtroom 5 Judge Michael E. Bortner Scheduled

http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/CPReport.aspx?docketNumber=CP-67-CR-0002438-2011

Sentence 10/28/2011 9:00 am Courtroom 5 Judge Michael E. Bortner Moved
Sentence 11/28/2011 9:00 am Courtroom 5 Judge Michael E. Bortner Scheduled

http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/CPReport.aspx?docketNumber=CP-67-CR-0002438-2011

Sentence 12/19/2011 9:00 am Courtroom 5 Judge Michael E. Bortner Schedule

http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/CPReport.aspx?docketNumber=CP-67-CR-0002438-2011