Chandler PD

Angelica Jimenez

​Yesterday, Angelica Jimenez -- the Chandler woman who had a 4-month-old baby in her care end up with a cigarette burn, 14 broken bones, and bruising all over her body last year -- got her punishment.

She was sentenced to a decade of probation.

Jimenez, 25, pleaded guilty to child abuse in January for just standing by as her convicted felony boyfriend allegedly abused the baby.

Jimenez was a friend of the baby's mother, who had recently lost custody of the girl. The baby was placed in Jimenez's care after she failed to disclose to a Child Protective Services caseworker that her convict boyfriend, Steven Saldana, was living with her.

In fact, she explicitly told CPS that Saldana wasn't living with her.

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Chandler PD

Angelica Jimenez

​Angelica Jimenez -- the Chandler woman who had a 4-month-old baby in her care end up with a cigarette burn, 14 broken bones, and bruising all over her body last year -- was sentenced today to probation.

Jimenez, 25, pleaded guilty to child abuse in January for just standing by as her convicted felony boyfriend allegedly abused the baby.

Jimenez was a friend of the baby's mother, who had recently lost custody of the girl. The baby was placed in Jimenez's care after she failed to disclose to a Child Protective Services caseworker that her convict boyfriend, Steven Saldana, was living with her.

In fact, she explicitly told CPS that Saldana wasn't living with her.

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MCSO

John and Samantha Allen (left) have each been charged with first-degree murder for the death of Samantha Allen's cousin, 10-year-old Ame Deal. Judith Deal and Cynthia Stolzmann (right), Deal's grandmother and aunt, have been charged with child abuse.

​The Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced this morning that it will seek the death penalty for two people accused of murdering 10-year-old Ame Deal last summer by locking her in a tiny footlocker and leaving her there overnight.

Samantha Allen -- Ame's cousin -- and her husband, John Allen, have been charged with first-degree murder in the girl's death. Two of Ame's other relatives, her aunt, Cynthia Stolzman, and her grandmother, Judith Deal, each is charged with multiple counts of child abuse for repeatedly abusing the girl.

The County Attorney's Office cites Ame's young age, and the "especially cruel, heinous or depraved" manner of the murder as aggravating factors that led to the decision to seek the death penalty for the Allens.

The depravity of the murder, Phoenix police told New Times last summer, "makes you sick to your stomach."

No argument here.

According to court documents obtained by New Times, the abuse of Ame includes frequently getting locked in the footlocker, being forced to eat dog feces, getting beaten with a wooden paddle her family referred to as a "butt buster," being forced to sleep in a shower stall with no pillow or blankets, getting forced to do "back bends" for hours, and having hot sauce shoved in her mouth.

All of the aforementioned abuse was "punishment" for doing things like "lying" and stealing food.  

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Chandler Police Department

Angelica Jimenez

​We're not sure what's more disturbing: the fact that Anjelica Jimenez allowed her boyfriend to use a 4-month-old as an ashtray, or the fact that the baby was placed in Jimenez's care by Child Protective Services.

Regardless, Jimenez, 25, was in a Maricopa County court this morning where she pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse for standing by as her boyfriend abused the baby.

When CPS placed the 4-month-old in Jimenez's care, she didn't bother to tell the CPS caseworker that her convicted felon boyfriend was living with her in her apartment. In fact, she told CPS he doesn't live with her.

But 30-year-old Steven Saldana, who police say has a vast criminal history, was living with her -- and he allegedly was abusing the baby; police found a cigarette burn on the infant's body, which is nothing compared to the 14 broken bones the girl suffered, allegedly at the hands of Saldana. Not to mention the multiple bruises and abrasions doctors found all over the girl's body.

Luckily, the baby lived.

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MCSO

Miguel Garcia

​The hits keep coming for the folks at Arizona Child Protective Services -- the latest child killed by a person the agency has investigated in the past is 1-year-old Aleigh Torres, who police say was murdered by her mother's boyfriend, 22-year-old Miguel "Angel" Garcia.

According to court records obtained by New Times, Glendale police were called on Sunday about an unresponsive 1-year-old at an apartment in the 6100 block of 60th Avenue.

When police arrived, they found Aleigh not breathing. She was taken to Maryvale Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Detectives spoke to Garcia, who initially told them he was watching Aleigh -- and her three siblings, ages 6, 4, and 2 -- while the children's mother, Kerrie Serivano, was at work.

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MCSO

Jerice Hunter is a free woman...for now.

​Jerice Hunter, the mother of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley -- who is suspected in the girl's disappearance -- has been released from jail.

Hunter, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says, was released about 10:40 a.m today.

Jerry Cobb, spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, tells New Times Hunter was released because no charges against her were formally filed within 48 hours of her arrest last week. Because charges weren't filed within 48 hours, authorities could not legally hold Hunter.

Cobb says that doesn't mean charges won't be filed in the future -- he says the MCAO is awaiting results from an additional investigation into Hunter by the Glendale Police Department before making any charging decisions. He says his office is working closely with Glendale cops, who suspect Shockley is likely dead and plan to search for her remains in a city landfill in coming weeks.

Hunter was arrested last week and booked into jail on child abuse charges "directly related" to Shockley's October 11 disappearance.

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Jerice Hunter

​

A Valley bail-bond company says it has denied an offer to write a bond for Jerice Hunter because her daughter is still missing and the bond amount is too low.

The operators of Regulator Bail Bonds, Inc., tweeted and Facebooked their displeasure last night, urging the state's other bail-bond companies to follow their lead.

After Hunter was arrested on suspicion of child abuse following the disappearance of her 5-year-old, Jhessye Shockley, a judge set her bond at $100,000.

A channel 15 (KNXV-TV) news report stated yesterday that a local church was trying to raise the 10 percent of the bond needed to free Hunter from jail.

Jim Hood, the owner of Regulator, won't say who contacted his company this week with an offer to put the front money and collateral down for Hunter. But Hood turned down the offer.

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Jerice Hunter cleaned her apartment with bleach days before reporting her 5-year-old daughter missing.

​Glendale police announced yesterday that they don't expect to find missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley alive, and now we know why: it appears her mother, Jerice Hunter, who was arrested yesterday on child abuse charges "directly related to the disappearance," beat the girl weeks before she was ever reported missing. She also kept her in a closet and told her other children to lie to police about the disappearance.

Hunter also cleaned her apartment with bleach a few days before reporting Shockley missing, which suggests she might have been trying to destroy evidence.

According to court records obtained by New Times, two of Jhessye's siblings, who are now in foster care, told their foster parents about some of the abuse Shockley received at the hands of her mother, who spent four years in a California prison for child abuse -- and scolded us last month for asking whether she hurt her daughter .

Jhessye's 13-year-old sister told her foster parents that several weeks before Shockley was reported missing, Hunter came home and found her watching TV with a boy from the neighborhood. The girl told her foster parents -- and later police -- that Hunter called Jhessye a "ho" and dragged her into a bedroom where the sister could hear Jhessye screaming and crying.

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MCSO

Jennifer Campos (left) and, Anthony Casillas

​Two people accused of giving their 2-year-old son methadone to relieve a toothache pleaded not guilty today to a collection of child abuse-related charges.

Initially, the baby's mother, Jennifer Campos, was booked on three counts of endangering the life of a minor, and four counts of child abuse. The boy's father, Anthony Casillas, was hit with four counts of child abuse, and three counts of endangering the life of a minor. Another woman involved, Misty Murphy, who provided the couple with the methadone, was booked on one count of child abuse.

According to court documents obtained by New Times, in addition to the methadone found in the baby's bloodstream, doctors also found traces of amphetamine, nicotine, and acetone. But that's not all; the boy's parents -- 35-year-old Campos and 37-year-old Casillas --  have been "on the run" from state Child Protective Services since June.

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MCSO

From left: Misty Murphy, Jennifer Campos, Anthony Casillas

​Three people have been charged with crimes after a 2-year-old boy was found to have methadone in his system after he was rushed to a Valley hospital last week while unresponsive and not breathing.'

We reported on the methadone-filled baby last week, but now we've got the details -- and they ain't pretty.

According to court documents obtained by New Times, in addition to the methadone found in the baby's bloodstream, doctors also found traces of amphetamine, nicotine, and acetone. But that's not all; the boy's parents -- 35-year-old Jennifer Campos and 37-year-old Anthony Casillas --  have been "on the run" from state Child Protective Services since June.

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