By Kim McDarison
A Whitewater woman has been charged with neglecting a child resulting in death and moving, hiding or burying a corpse of a child in connection with a body of a baby found in a field earlier this month.
Santos Asucena Caseres Cruz, 39, was arrested Friday, March 24, and taken into custody by the Whitewater Police Department and confined in the Jefferson County Jail.
According to information released by the Whitewater Police Department, charges of concealing death of a child and resisting or obstructing officers were forwarded to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office.
Additionally, information released by the Whitewater Police Department alleges that Caseres Cruz is the deceased child’s mother.
Charges filed against Caseres Cruz allege her involvement in the placement of a body, described by police as that of a newborn baby. The body was discovered by police on the morning of March 4, in a field behind the Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park on Tratt Street, in Whitewater.
According to information released by the Whitewater Police Department, the body was male, and discovered in a plastic bag, inside a cardboard box. The body was wrapped in a light-colored shirt. Police noted that they believed the body had been placed in the field less than 48 hours before it was located.
According to the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website, a Class D felony charge of neglecting a child with a consequence of death and a Class F felony charge of moving, hiding or burying a corpse of a child were filed Tuesday by the office of Jefferson County District Attorney Monica Hall.
Caseres Cruz appeared before Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge William F. Hue via video conference at which time a cash bond of $10,000 was set with the conditions that the defendant surrender any passport, not leave Jefferson County, and report and comply with a GPS monitoring program administered by Wisconsin Community Services.
According to court documents, the defendant would be released from custody “on GPS monitoring only.”
Caseres Cruz will next appear in court for a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday, April 4, at 9 a.m.
As defined by Wisconsin state statutes, a Class D felony carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison or a fine of up to $100,000.
A Class F felony carries a maximum penalty of 12.5 years in prison or a fine up to $25,000.
File photo.
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