Mother, boyfriend arrested after baby found with broken arms and legs

A mother and her live-in boyfriend were arrested this week in Hesperia after her 6-month-old son was found with broken arms and legs, authorities said.

A San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy was sent to do a welfare check on the child around 7 p.m. Tuesday after a local pediatrician notified a child abuse hotline that the infant’s mother and her boyfriend had sought treatment for him.

The deputy recognized deformities in the boy’s arms and legs indicating bone fractures, according to a sheriff’s department news release. The mother, 21-year-old Maria Estrada, and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Christain Lopez, were interviewed and subsequently arrested on child abuse charges.

The boy was taken to Loma Linda Medical Center for treatment, where X-rays confirmed fractures and other injuries indicative of long-term physical abuse, authorities said. He is expected to survive.

Lopez was arrested on suspicion of aggravated mayhem, torture and willful, inhuman injury to a child resulting in a traumatic condition. His bail was set at $1 million.

Estrada was arrested on suspicion of willful injury to a child likely to produce bodily injury or death. She is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. Detectives believe Estrada was aware of the abuse, but did nothing to stop it.

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