Christina Pena-Cantor and James Welch (Bernalillo County Jail).
The New Mexico woman prosecutors called the "ringleader" of a quartet who tied up a 3-year-old girl and abused her until she died is headed to prison along with one of her co-defendants.
Christina Pena-Cantor, 49, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse along with one count each of child abandonment and tampering with evidence, records show. James Welch, 51, will spend 18 months behind bars after he pleaded no contest to child abuse, tampering with evidence and failure to report child abuse.
Kerri Anne Santos, the dead girl's mother, is still facing charges of reckless child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Austin Bing, Pena-Cantor's son, pleaded guilty to reckless child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence in July. He has yet to be sentenced.
Citing an affidavit, ABQ Raw News and local ABC affiliate KOAT reported that Santos brought the girl to an Albuquerque hospital in January 2024 wrapped in a blanket after the child wasn't feeling well. Doctors pronounced the girl dead. She told Albuquerque Police Department detectives she had driven across the country from Massachusetts to escape an abusive relationship.
Santos said she and her three children were staying at Welch's studio apartment on the 3000 block of Gold Avenue SE. She claimed the girl had fallen off a toilet and onto the floor at a gas station during the trip, the affidavit reportedly said.
But authorities became suspicious when they found bruises in different stages of healing and pressure marks on the girl's ankles.
Santos allegedly told detectives that Pena-Cantor ordered Bing to tie down the girl on the bed. After arguing with Pena-Cantor and Bing, Santos eventually took the girl to the hospital, the affidavit reportedly said. Santos was going to lie about what happened but later allegedly admitted the injuries happened at Welch's home, according to the affidavit.
The Children, Youth, and Families Department took custody of the two other children. Police in Massachusetts reportedly believed Santos had been using drugs around her children, CBS affiliate KRQE reported.
New Mexico state Sen. Crystal Brantley called the news horrifying in an interview with KRQE.
"Today's tragic news outrages me as a legislator and it disgusts me and bothers me very deeply as a mother," Brantley said. "New Mexico needs to adopt stricter criminal laws that no one can come into this state and abuse any child in our state and have that tolerated."
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