"Toddler John" DELGADO-SANCHEZ - 3 yo - Jones County MS

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A Jones County couple charged with abusing a three-year-old male
child are each being held on a $500,000 cash bond. Meanwhile, the
child, whose mother is charged as an accessory in the case, is fighting
for his life at University Medical Center in Jackson.
Daisy Delgado, 22, and Fernando Sanchez, 21, are currently being held in the Jones County Adult Detention Facility.
Delgado,
who works in the medical field, was charged with child neglect and
accessory after the fact, while Sanchez was charged with felony child
abuse.
Shuanita Weathersby, public relations director for the Jones
County Sheriff’s Department, said that if found guilty, the mother
could face up to 15 years in prison, while Sanchez could face up to 20
years of prison time. She noted that the child is in critical condition
and was scheduled to receive surgery Thursday.
Jones County Sheriff
Alex Hodge said deputies were dispatched Wednesday to South Central
Regional Medical Center for alleged child abuse.
“It was later
discovered that the child was taken to the hospital because of several
visible injuries on his face and feet,” he said. “After an initial
investigation, it was determined that the child had been severely
abused suffering from broken bones and bruises over most of his body.”
Hodge said a family member alerted his department in regards to the abuse.
“It’s
saddening anytime someone strikes a defenseless child,” he said. “I
recognize the need for an advocate for these folks. Tonya Madison, our
victims advocate, has been working with the victims of these crimes,
including children and adults.”
Hodge said Madison has helped
increase conviction rates by working through the system, comforting the
victims and encouraging them to speak out.
“In this case, I’m
thankful that a family member did step in,” he said. “There’s no doubt
they’re guilty of these charges. The crime they committed was pure
evil.”
Hodge said his office gets calls daily from parents that say their child is getting out of hand.
“I
was disciplined as a child, but I knew why I was getting my tail tore
up,” he said. “The beating of a defenseless child who has no idea why
they’re being abused, whether they’re three or 17, is not right. As a
daddy, when my boys deserve to be disciplined, I tell them what they
did wrong and the consequences. Disciplinary actions should be put in
place.
“But, what these people did was not discipline,” Hodge
continued. “They acted out of anger. Discipline and abuse are two
different things.”
Jones County Assistant District Attorney J.
Ronald Parrish said child abuse “ranks right at the top of all the
heinous, despicable, filthy acts.”
“If these allegations are proven,
which I believe they will be, I’ll make sure that when they get out of
prison they’ll be too old to have any more children,” he said.
Hodge noted some disturbing statistics about child abuse from the non-profit agency Child Help including:
• Almost five children die everyday as a result of child abuse. More than three out of four are under the age of 4.
• A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds.
• Ninety percent of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way, 68 percent are abused by family members.
•
Child abuse occurs at every socio-economic level, across ethnic and
cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.
• Thirty-one percent of women in prison in the United States were abused as children.
• Over 60 percent of people in drug rehabilitation centers report being abused or neglected as a child.
• About 30 percent of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.
• About 80 percent of 21-year-olds that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.