California mom accused of punching newborn son, leaving him with 16 broken bones

A Southern California mother has been charged after she allegedly repeatedly beat her 5-week-old baby when he refused to stop crying, leaving the infant with 16 broken bones, including a skull fracture, prosecutors said.

Mirian Jimenez-Olivera, 34, of Santa Ana, is charged with 11 felony counts of child abuse in the attack that also left the infant with a broken knee, a broken elbow, broken ribs and a broken arm.

The city of Santa Ana is in Orange County.

The child's 35-year-old father was also charged with accessory after the fact in connection to the case for allegedly lying to police about how the baby suffered the injuries, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release Thursday.

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Prosecutors: Mother punched baby starting at 2 weeks old

Doctors discovered the child's injuries when the baby was brought to a children's hospital on Monday because he wasn’t moving his left arm.

According to the release, the mother stands accused of assaulting her baby multiple times since he was two weeks old, punching her newborn in the ribs, shoulder, and arms when he cried and "roughly pulling his leg when she changed him."

“A mother’s arms should be the safest place for a newborn, fiercely protecting him from the world, but ... his mother’s arms were the weapons of violence which helped systematically break his little bones into tiny pieces because he wouldn’t stop doing what every newborn does − cry,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer released in a statement. “No child should be brought into this world and be subjected to unimaginable pain − and then be left to suffer in silence, not knowing when the next time his mother would lash out in anger and break another rib or snap another bone.”

Both parents pleaded not guilty in case, remain jailed on $1 million

Proseuctors said both parents appeared in court this week and pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.

The mother faces a maximum sentence of 42 years in prison if convicted on all her felony charges.

The child's father, Edgar Busto-Rodriguez, faces up to three years in prison if convicted of his respective felony charge.

Online records show both remained jailed on Friday on $1 million bond each.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.