Vasquez to Court: I Meant to Protect My Adopted Kids

Tom Schultz    

A former Santa Barbara day care operator who pleaded no contest earlier this year to four felony counts of child abuse testified this week that she may have gone too far when she locked her adopted children in their rooms, but that she did it for their own protection.

Sylvia Jovanna Vasquez, 51, highlighted her efforts to find expert mental health help for three of her four kids who severely suffer from reactive attachment disorder, or RAD, in which adopted or foster children shuttled about develop difficulty forming healthy relationships with their caregivers, peers and families.

"I couldn't believe my kids wouldn't get well," Vasquez testified Thursday before Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa during her ongoing sentencing hearing. "I was not going to give up."

The defendant's testimony followed that of more than a half dozen witnesses who have testified on her behalf during a hearing requested by defense lawyer Robert Sanger, who seeks to have the charges against his client knocked down from felony to misdemeanor status.

So far, witnesses have said Vasquez did not lock her children up during the day, but only did so at night when all other avenues to protect them were exhausted. Many testified how she frequently took her children to Disneyland, museums and church and enrolled them in ice skating and music lessons.

On the eve of trial at the beginning of this year, Vasquez pleaded no contest to the charges in exchange for the judge's offer to cap her potential sentence at no more than one year in the County Jail if she did so.

However, before Judge Ochoa can sentence Vasquez, he must hear evidence from the defense and the prosecution concerning whether the charges should be considered misdemeanors or felonies.

Sanger expects to wrap up his case next week. Prosecutor Joyce Dudley will then have an opportunity to convince the judge that Vasquez's alleged actions rise to the level of the more serious crime of a felony.

Earlier in the week, one of Vasquez's daughters, now age 10, told the court she loves her mother and hopes to return to the home.

"If you guys don't find me a home in two weeks, you're going to send me back right?" the girl asked.

Under cross-examination from the prosecution, the girl also described Vasquez meting out punishments.

In response to the prosecutor's questions, the girl said she was fed raw eggs mixed with an oil, which the defense lawyer asserted was the Ensure food supplement.

The girl made disturbing, but inconsistent claims on the stand. She confirmed that she wrote a number of letters saying in one that she was forced by her mom to lick up the mixture after she threw it up. She also testified that she wrote letters about wanting to cause harm to her family and her dog, adding she never really meant to do so.

Sometimes she grew hungry or was not able to reach the bathroom, she testified. However, she later explained that there was a variety of food available at the house.

At one point, she testified her mother put her hand on a hot stove burner.

"Do you think I'd be dumb enough to put my hand on the stove?" the girl asked. "She's like, 'I need to show you the consequences.' She got my hand and put it on. I think it was because I didn't get my homework done."

However, the girl also confirmed she wrote in a letter that her mother warned her not to put her hand on the hot burner and she did so anyway.

In regard to the prosecution allegation that Vasquez made her daughter eat dog foot, the girl replied: "I was the one who made myself eat dog food. I still like to eat dog food."

Vasquez was arrested on Jan. 5, 2006 at her home, located at 2839 Foothill Road after a neighbor reported that her adopted children — at the time ages 13, 12, 9 and 6 —  were possibly being abused.

Authorities reported finding a downstairs room occupied by a 13-year-old boy which contained a large bag of trash with rotting food inside, a bed, a toothbrush, a bottle of water and a bucket holding urine and feces. The room had an external dead bolt, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

The nine-year-old girl allegedly stayed in a another room downstairs built into a storage area with an external lock, authorities said.

There was separate room and hallway in the downstairs area that reportedly was littered with cat urine and feces, authorities said. The downstairs bathroom was filthy and the toilet was stopped up with feces, authorities also alleged.

The 6-year-old girl had a bedroom upstairs, at the opposite end of the house, according to investigators who described a bed in that room located within a 3-by-5-foot "cage," which has been described by the defense as a bunkbed with a door.

The 12-year-old girl also stayed in a room upstairs. Authorities said it looked as though this girl was "well cared for and given all of the necessary amenities."

The children were removed and placed into protective custody following Vasquez's arrest.

In the months that followed, she was bailed out and remanded back into custody twice at the prosecution's request following alleged contact with the children.

Vasquez, who has been out of custody since the beginning of this year, was expected to return to the witness stand on Tuesday.  Vasquez to Court: I Meant to Protect My Adopted Kids     

By Tom Schultz    

April 21 2007 

A former Santa Barbara day care operator who pleaded no contest earlier this year to four felony counts of child abuse testified this week that she may have gone too far when she locked her adopted children in their rooms, but that she did it for their own protection.

Sylvia Jovanna Vasquez, 51, highlighted her efforts to find expert mental health help for three of her four kids who severely suffer from reactive attachment disorder, or RAD, in which adopted or foster children shuttled about develop difficulty forming healthy relationships with their caregivers, peers and families.

"I couldn't believe my kids wouldn't get well," Vasquez testified Thursday before Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa during her ongoing sentencing hearing. "I was not going to give up."

The defendant's testimony followed that of more than a half dozen witnesses who have testified on her behalf during a hearing requested by defense lawyer Robert Sanger, who seeks to have the charges against his client knocked down from felony to misdemeanor status.

So far, witnesses have said Vasquez did not lock her children up during the day, but only did so at night when all other avenues to protect them were exhausted. Many testified how she frequently took her children to Disneyland, museums and church and enrolled them in ice skating and music lessons.

On the eve of trial at the beginning of this year, Vasquez pleaded no contest to the charges in exchange for the judge's offer to cap her potential sentence at no more than one year in the County Jail if she did so.

However, before Judge Ochoa can sentence Vasquez, he must hear evidence from the defense and the prosecution concerning whether the charges should be considered misdemeanors or felonies.

Sanger expects to wrap up his case next week. Prosecutor Joyce Dudley will then have an opportunity to convince the judge that Vasquez's alleged actions rise to the level of the more serious crime of a felony.

Earlier in the week, one of Vasquez's daughters, now age 10, told the court she loves her mother and hopes to return to the home.

"If you guys don't find me a home in two weeks, you're going to send me back right?" the girl asked.

Under cross-examination from the prosecution, the girl also described Vasquez meting out punishments.

In response to the prosecutor's questions, the girl said she was fed raw eggs mixed with an oil, which the defense lawyer asserted was the Ensure food supplement.

The girl made disturbing, but inconsistent claims on the stand. She confirmed that she wrote a number of letters saying in one that she was forced by her mom to lick up the mixture after she threw it up. She also testified that she wrote letters about wanting to cause harm to her family and her dog, adding she never really meant to do so.

Sometimes she grew hungry or was not able to reach the bathroom, she testified. However, she later explained that there was a variety of food available at the house.

At one point, she testified her mother put her hand on a hot stove burner.

"Do you think I'd be dumb enough to put my hand on the stove?" the girl asked. "She's like, 'I need to show you the consequences.' She got my hand and put it on. I think it was because I didn't get my homework done."

However, the girl also confirmed she wrote in a letter that her mother warned her not to put her hand on the hot burner and she did so anyway.

In regard to the prosecution allegation that Vasquez made her daughter eat dog foot, the girl replied: "I was the one who made myself eat dog food. I still like to eat dog food."

Vasquez was arrested on Jan. 5, 2006 at her home, located at 2839 Foothill Road after a neighbor reported that her adopted children — at the time ages 13, 12, 9 and 6 —  were possibly being abused.

Authorities reported finding a downstairs room occupied by a 13-year-old boy which contained a large bag of trash with rotting food inside, a bed, a toothbrush, a bottle of water and a bucket holding urine and feces. The room had an external dead bolt, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

The nine-year-old girl allegedly stayed in a another room downstairs built into a storage area with an external lock, authorities said.

There was separate room and hallway in the downstairs area that reportedly was littered with cat urine and feces, authorities said. The downstairs bathroom was filthy and the toilet was stopped up with feces, authorities also alleged.

The 6-year-old girl had a bedroom upstairs, at the opposite end of the house, according to investigators who described a bed in that room located within a 3-by-5-foot "cage," which has been described by the defense as a bunkbed with a door.

The 12-year-old girl also stayed in a room upstairs. Authorities said it looked as though this girl was "well cared for and given all of the necessary amenities."

The children were removed and placed into protective custody following Vasquez's arrest.

In the months that followed, she was bailed out and remanded back into custody twice at the prosecution's request following alleged contact with the children.

Vasquez, who has been out of custody since the beginning of this year, was expected to return to the witness stand on Tuesday.