GREENFIELD — A Monterey County jury has found 38-year-old Marcelo De Jesus of Greenfield guilty of child abuse.
On Nov. 14, 2019, his 15-year-old daughter skipped school and went to the movies with her friends. When she got home, De Jesus brought her into a bedroom and “lashed her with a belt several times,” according to a Dec. 21 news release from the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.
The lashings left “several welts” on the girl’s body, the DA’s Office said.
Her sisters called 911, and Greenfield police officers responded to the home, where they heard multiple female voices crying and screaming from the bedroom.
“Due to the exigent circumstances of someone or multiple people possibly being hurt, the responding officers busted open the front door after no one inside answered their knocks,” the DA’s Office said.
Officers arrested De Jesus and notified Child Protective Services of the five crying juveniles in the home.
After the Dec. 17 verdict, De Jesus was taken into custody. On Dec. 18, Judge Robert A. Burlison sentenced him to 42 days in jail, four years’ probation and 52 weeks of parenting classes.
