Woman Previously Accused of Shackling Son Reunified with Her Children

A Santa Ana woman arrested last year for shackling her 10-year-old son while she was at work is no longer facing criminal charges and has been reunified with her children, her attorney said today.

A felony count and a misdemeanor court of child abuse and endangerment were dropped against Irma Jacobo Navarro on Friday by prosecutors because she completed a court program that includes child-rearing classes and monitoring from social workers, attorney Douglas Potratz said.

On July 9, Navarro will return to court for a 60-day review, and it is expected that the case against her will be closed, Potratz said.

"She worked really hard and she took a positive approach to the counseling, and she benefited from the counseling for any future problems she may have with her children," her attorney said.

When the single mom was arrested last July, Navarro's three children were taken into protective custody, according to Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.

Investigators last year characterized her as a "good, caring mom," but said she was having discipline problems with her 10-year-old son.

About 11:40 a.m. last July 18, police were called to the 700 block of South Lyon Street, where the boy was found in the courtyard of an apartment complex with a padlocked 6-foot-long aluminum chain wrapped four or five times around his ankles, according to Bertagna.

Two women walking in the neighborhood saw the boy leaning against a tree crying, and they called police when he said his mother had shackled him, Bertagna said. Police used bolt cutters to free the boy.

The boy's mother had left him at home with a video game, but he got "frustrated" and decided to leave, according to the corporal. The boy, who was dressed only in his underwear at home, decided to put on some shorts but had to squeeze both of his legs through one pant leg.

The boy had a habit of leaving home and not returning until 9 or 9:30 p.m., according to Bertagna, who said then that the child "cusses at her (Navarro), doesn't listen to her, so she's at her wit's end."

The boy's mother feared her son would get involved with the wrong crowd, according to Bertagna.

--City News Service