A Santa Maria man has denied charges of being an accessory after the fact and child endangerment in connection with the death of a 3-year-old boy in June.
Gabriel Peralta, 32, pleaded not guilty to the allegations Friday afternoon in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, said Deputy District Attorney Stephen Foley, the case prosecutor.
The defendant is due back in court Aug. 21.
Peralta had not yet been assigned an attorney, Foley said.
Santa Maria police arrested Peralta on Wednesday, after they reportedly developed enough evidence to link him to Gilbert Dominguez’s death.
Peralta’s longtime girlfriend, Sylvia Dominguez of Santa Maria, was arrested shortly after Gilbert’s death, and has been charged with murder and felony assault resulting in the death of a child under 8 years old.
She has pleaded not guilty, and is next due in court Sept. 4.
Dominguez, 27, was Gilbert’s foster mother and aunt.
Emergency crews reportedly responded on June 11 to an apartment in the 1000 block of West Liberty Street, where they found Gilbert not breathing.
Investigators were summoned because of bruising, cuts and visible swelling over the majority of the boy’s body, police have said.
Police had reported that Peralta was arrested and booked into county jail on suspicion of murder.
However, Foley said that according to the arrest report, police arrested Peralta on suspicion of the same charges he was formally charged with Friday.
Lt. Dan Ast, a spokesman for the Santa Maria Police Department, could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
The county jail reported that Peralta had been booked into jail on suspicion of charges including murder.
Foley said the accessory allegation was because Peralta deliberately misled authorities regarding who killed the boy, and the child endangerment charge was “because he had knowledge that Sylvia Dominguez was abusing him and did nothing about it.”
Peralta remained in county jail Friday evening with bail set at $500,000, while Dominguez was in jail without the option of bail.
Samantha Yale can be reached at
739-2159 or
syale@santamariatimes.com.
August 9, 2008
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