The parents of a 4-year-old boy who was assaulted and abused for years before his death have reached a plea deal that won’t require them to admit guilt in his death but will send them to prison.
Jose Cuatro, 32, and Ursula Juarez, 30, entered a plea of no contest on Friday in the death of Noah Cuatro, KABC reported.
They initially faced multiple charges — including murder and rape — in the boy’s torture and death after claiming that he drowned in a community pool in July 2019, as CrimeOnline reported. An autopsy said that the boy’s injuries were inconsistent with drowning.
Jose Cuatro was also charged with assault on a child causing death and sexual penetration of a child under 10, while Juarez charged with one count of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause death.
The case brought renewed attention to the county’s Department of Children and Family Services, which had reportedly been called to the home multiple times before Noah’s death.
Eva Hernandez, Noah’s great-grandmother, has filed a lawsuit against the county, accusing the agency of failing to fully investigate allegations of abuse against the parents, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was twice in Hernandez’s care, but both times given back to his parents.
At one point, an aunt made an anonymous calls to the child abuse hotlines, reporting that Noah would say that his “butt hurts” and that his mother “wasn’t feeding him.”
“If he’s vocalizing something’s wrong and he’s having night terrors,” his aunt said, “I feel like something’s going on.”
A social worker secured an order to remove Noah from his parents and undergo a medical or sexual abuse exam, but was blocked from carrying it out and ultimately removed from his case. She was replaced by a social worker who sent an email saying she felt “like as a department we have been picking on this family.” The email was sent three days before Noah’s death.
Hernandez was given custody of Noah’s three surviving siblings and is in the process of adopting them.
This week, Jose Cuatro agreed to plead no contest to first degree murder, which carries a potential sentence of 25 years to life, and torture, which carries 7 years to life.
Juarez agreed to plead no contest second degree murder, which carries 15 years to life, and torture.
They’ll be sentenced on April 30 after hearing victim impact statements.
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[Featured image: Noah Cuatro/GoFundMe]
