Father found guilty of child abuse for ‘lashing’ daughter with belt

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) A jury found a Greenfield man guilty of child abuse following an incident involving one of his daughters, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.

Investigators say a 15-year-old girl skipped school to go to the movies with her friends in November 2019. When she got home, her father, 38-year-old Marcelo De Jesus, took her to a bedroom and lashed her with a belt multiple times, leaving welts on her body, according to the DA's Office.

The girl's sisters called 911 saying their father was hitting their sister. They could be heard crying on the line, and the girl was heard screaming in the background.

When Greenfield police got to the home, they heard multiple females crying and screaming from a bedroom, and when nobody answered the door, they busted in because they believed someone may be getting hurt.

Police arrested De Jesus and alerted Child Protective Services to the five crying teens in the home.

After he was found guilty, De Jesus was sentenced to 42 days in custody, four years of probation and 52 weeks of parenting classes.