Man sentenced in Sacramento County to prison for negligence in infant daughter’s death

A Sacramento County man was sentenced to six years in state prison Friday after a judge ruled his negligence caused one of his children to drown and the other’s life to be at risk.

Roberto Escobar-Montes received his sentence after being convicted in September of two counts of child endangerment with circumstances likely to cause death, plus the enhancement that his infant daughter did die as a result of his actions.

Escobar-Montes was taking care of his children Eros (age 2) and Freyja (8 months old) on Nov. 28, 2021, when he placed them in a bathtub and turned on the water. He then went to another room and played a pornographic video game, leaving both children alone in the bathtub for at least 12 minutes, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office media release.

Escobar-Montes eventually stopped hearing Freyja and returned to the bathroom to find his daughter floating face down in a half-full bathtub. He removed Eros, who was not drowning, from the tub and turned off the water before grabbing Freyja and unplugging the drain.

The girl’s heartbeat did not return for an hour-and-a-half despite life-saving efforts, and she died a few days later as a result of her drowning.