Ofelia Garcia Ortega was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the Salinas Superior Courthouse in the Amber Alert Oregon case and taken into custody without incident at 2:45 p.m. Monterey County sheriff’s detectives said she was then booked on new charges tied to the investigation into her 14-year-old daughter and a dead newborn.
The Monterey County district attorney’s office said Garcia Ortega now faces 2 felony counts of displaying or possessing a forged identification card, plus 1 misdemeanor count of permitting a child to suffer or be endangered and 1 misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was being held in the Monterey County Jail on $150,000 enhanced bail Tuesday evening.
Monterey County sheriff’s detectives
Garcia Ortega had already been arrested on Aug. 4 on suspicion of child endangerment, posted $50,000 bail, and was released. The new arrest adds charges to a case that already included the girl’s father, Sergio Galvez Perez, who was charged on Sept. 2 with one count of lewd act upon a child, one count of incest, and one count of child abuse.
The girl was found in Mexico with Perez after California authorities issued an Amber alert in early September. Prosecutors said she is a victim of sexual assault by her biological father. The mother’s arrest shifts the case from one focused on the father’s conduct to one that now includes allegations against Garcia Ortega, too.
Struve Road in Monterey County
The investigation also centers on the death of the newborn, Baby Angelita, who was found dead with signs of traumatic injury along Struve Road in Monterey County on Aug. 1. The Monterey County district attorney’s office said Tuesday that investigators examined Garcia Ortega’s conduct as part of that inquiry.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, the office said, “The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the infant’s death also examined the conduct of Jane Doe’s mother, Ofelia Garcia Ortega.” It also said, “Investigators determined that Ortega put Jane Doe to work in agricultural fields at age 13 using falsified documentation.”
Garcia Ortega and Jane Doe
The same statement said, “Ortega also allowed Jane Doe to drive without a license and allowed her to completely remain out of school for many months.” Those allegations supplied the basis for the forged identification-card charges and the misdemeanor counts filed Tuesday.
Rosas said Perez and his daughter were found in Janos, a town in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, and the girl is now in the custody of a Mexican government agency responsible for child protection. Garcia Ortega remains in custody while the case against her, Perez, and the separate death of the newborn continue through Monterey County’s court process.
