Hearing delayed for mother in toddler drowning case

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, June 7, 2010 | 2 p.m.

Because a coroner's report isn't ready, a preliminary hearing that was set for today has been delayed for a month for a 22-year-old Las Vegas woman who has been charged in connection with the drowning death last month of her toddler son.

Justice of the Peace Nancy C. Oesterle continued the preliminary hearing for Mary Jane Lopez to 9:30 a.m. July 8 in Clark County Justice Court.

Lopez is in the Clark County Detention Center, charged with a count of felony child neglect with substantial bodily harm resulting in death.

Her son, 2-year-old Geno Valario, was found May 2 in the family's pool by his grandmother, who told police the boy had been there for three hours. Lopez, the boy's mother, was his primary caregiver, police said.

Lopez was also charged with two counts of child abuse and endangerment for her 1-year-old twins, who were also left unattended. Those children were taking into custody by Child Protective Services.

Her bail was set at $230,000 for the three charges.

According to a Metro Police arrest report, Lopez, who had to give her son insulin for his diabetes, told police she was "happy that he's gone and don't have to suffer anymore."

Lopez and the boy's grandmother gave police contradictory statements about what happened when the boy's body was found in the pool. The grandmother said she called police immediately.

However, Lopez said before police were called she and her mother sat in the living room and took turns holding the dead child while they discussed possibly disposing of the boy's body without involving authorities, according to the police report.

Police responded to the home in the 4800 block of Santa Barbara Street, which is north of the Tropicana Avenue interchange at U.S. 95, after receiving a 911 call in which the caller stated, “I don’t need medical, I need the police to come, my grandson drowned,” the report stated. When the dispatcher asked where the child was, the caller responded, “in my arms, he’s dead,” and said the child had been underwater for about three hours.

The police report indicated Lopez told police she was angry with Geno’s father because he refused to come home and spend time with her and the children, so she went for a walk and left the children without informing the other adult in the home – her father – that she was leaving.

The boy apparently went outside through a sliding glass door that was left ajar, the police report said. She told investigators she knew the door was open when she left, the report said, and admitted the boy’s death was probably her fault because she should have been watching him, the report indicated.

The boy’s grandmother said no attempts to resuscitate the boy were made because his body was cold and his lips were purple, police said.