LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Today, District Attorney Mark D’Antonio announced that a grand jury has indicted a Las Cruces couple accused of abusing the woman’s two children.
Josie Rubio, 28, and her boyfriend, Stephen Cordero, 24, were each indicted on 14 counts of child abuse, all third-degree felonies.
According to investigators with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department, the 11-year-old boy was forced to sleep outside after wetting his pants. He was also allegedly sprayed down with water from a garden hose and beaten with a stick. The boy also told detectives that Cordero shot him with a pellet gun.
Meanwhile, the girl, 12, told detectives that her mother stomped on her stomach. She also said Cordero would beat her with a leather belt.
The abuse is alleged have happened last year in the 5100 block of Creek Trail after Rubio and the children moved into Cordero’s home.
D’Antonio said, “I am very grateful that school officials intervened when they did. Child abuse is one of the worst crimes imaginable and will not be tolerated in Doña Ana County.”
Rubio is being held on a $1 million bond and Cordero is being held without bond.
Both defendants are facing three years in prison for each count.
Information from Third Judicial District Attorney's Office