Couple Arrested for Child Abuse Previously Convicted for Hitting Child with a Hanger

 VICTORVILLE, Ca. – Adelanto parents were arrested after their one-year-old daughter was found to be severely malnourished, but this was not their first child abuse case.

After a a nearly month long investigation into accusations of neglect of the toddler, her mother and father John Dominicci, 31, and Monica Vasquez, 31, both of Adelanto were arrested for felony child abuse on Saturday, September 14, 2019. The emaciated toddler was removed from the home and taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center for treatment of severe dehydration and malnourishment, authorities said. The couple was also learned to be receiving benefits from a nutritional food program to assist in feeding the small child.

Dominicci and Vasquez were both on misdemeanor probation for a 2016 conviction for a child abuse incident that took place in November 2014. Both were charged and convicted of Inhuman Corporal Punishment Inflicted Upon a Child.

Victorville Sheriff’s Spokeswoman Mara Rodriguez told a 24/7 Headline News reporter that Dominicci was arrested on November 6, 2014, after hitting a 5-year-old female child with a hanger. At the time the couple lived in the 14700 block of Mesa Drive in the CIty of Victorville. It is unclear what Vasquez’ role in the abuse was. 

At the Victorville Superior Court Dominicci and Vasquez both pleaded no contest to misdemeanor Inhuman Corporal Punishment Inflicted Upon a Child. As a result, both required to pay victim restitution, attend a 52-week child abuse treatment program.

Dominicci was required to serve 30 days in jail. He was credited for 12 days for time served and was prohibited from having any negative with the victim listed as “Amy R.”. Vasquez was required to serve 34 days in jail, with 17 days of time served. The remaining 17 days was to be served at a rate of ½ for a total of just over a week

Dominicci was found to be in violation of his probation on January 2017, March 2017, and May 2017. For each violation he was required to spend additional time in a jail work-release program.

Both appeared in court for the most recent child abuse charges. Dominicci and Vasquez both pleaded not guilty to four counts including Willfully Causing or Permitting any Child to Suffer and Three misdemeanor counts of Willful Cruelty to a Child.

Both are scheduled to return to the Victorville Superior Court on October 24, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. Per inmate records for the County of San Bernardino, both Dominicci and Vasquez, remain in custody in lieu of $100,000 bail.

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