Undocumented resident arrested for child abuse

SANTA BARBARA — Rocio Silva, 19-year-old mother of a six-week-old infant, was arrested on felony charges of child abuse following the serious injury of her baby early Wednesday morning.

In the hours just after midnight on June 30, dispatchers reported a call of an infant child abuse victim at the Cottage Hospital Emergency Department. Responding Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies “found an infant who had been admitted to the ER with severe traumatic head injuries,” said sheriff’s spokesman Drew Sugars. Medical staff determined that the injuries were the apparent result of physical violence.

Following inquiry at the emergency facility, deputies learned that the baby’s father and mother had initially taken the infant to Goleta Valley Hospital with seizure symptoms; at that time, hospital staff transferred the child to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for more critical care. Pursuant to their early assessment and consultation with medical staff, sheriff’s detectives were called in to investigate the case in more detail.

It was determined by doctors and law enforcement that the young victim had also suffered other injuries now in different stages of healing. Upon questioning of both parents together and individually, detectives came to the conclusion that the injuries were inflicted at the hand of the mother, Rocio Silva.

Silva was arrested at the scene and taken into custody on charges of felony child abuse. As an undocumented alien resident, Silva was denied bail and is currently held in Santa Barbara County Jail on a no-bail immigration detainer.

Rocio Silva