A Vancouver woman pleaded guilty Thursday in Clark County Superior Court to hurting her 3-week-old baby and was sentenced to 60 days of partial confinement.
Apple Joy Alejo Pereyras, 24, entered the guilty plea to third-degree domestic violence assault as part of a plea deal. She originally faced a charge of second-degree assault of a child — domestic violence-related.
Pereyras will serve 35 days of her sentence through the Clark County Jail’s work release program, which allows inmates to work outside in the community and be confined when they’re not working. The remaining 25 days will be served on a work crew.
Her attorney, Maggie Evansen, said Pereyras has been working closely with Child Protective Services and has had supervised visitation with her three children for about a year. She has also completed some parenting classes, she said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the infant was taken to a doctor in April 2015 after he became particularly fussy and his legs swelled. He reportedly showed indications of pain when his parents moved his legs to change his diaper.
X-rays found that both of the child’s legs appeared to be fractured. He was transferred to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, where additional X-rays confirmed the fractures, the affidavit said.
Neither parent could explain how the infant was injured.
A doctor told detectives with the Children’s Justice Center that the likely cause of the fractures was yanking or pulling and twisting the legs using “significant, excessive force.” He said when he told Pereyras about the fractures, she dismissed them, court records state.
Pereyras later admitted to detectives that she became frustrated with the infant’s fussiness and “possibly” pulled too hard on his legs while moving them to ease his gas pain. She then changed her story and said she did pull hard on the child’s legs, which caused him to cry louder, according to court documents.
Deputy Prosecutor Jeff McCarty said although he has his theories, no one will ever really know how the incident unfolded or whether the abuse was intentional or caused by negligence.
