Dad convicted of 21 counts of child abuse (Madison, Wisconsin)

Dad PORFIRIO OLIVAS has been convicted of 21 counts of child abuse. In addition to the physical abuse and starvation of his teenage daughter, Olivas was found guilty of battering his 3-year-old son.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/06/Dad-convicted-of-21-counts-of-child-abuse/UPI-59061260087624/

Dad convicted of 21 counts of child abuse
Published: Dec. 6, 2009 at 3:20 AM

MADISON, Wis., Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A Wisconsin man faces years in prison after being convicted of physically abusing and starving his teenage daughter and breaking the leg of his young son.

A jury in Madison found Porfirio Olivas guilty of 21 counts of child abuse Friday, The Wisconsin State Journal reported. He was acquitted of sexual assault and two counts of child abuse.

In addition to the abuse of his daughter, the jury found he had battered his 3-year-old son.

Olivas faces a theoretical maximum sentence of 160 years behind bars. His wife, Minerva Lopez, 33, who pleaded no contest to charges of child abuse, is also awaiting sentencing.

Social workers investigating why the couple's children were not in school found the 14-year-old girl in a closet in 2008. One witness said she was so emaciated she looked like a concentration camp victim.

The teenager testified her parents denied her food, and her father made her eat cockroaches and spiders and, on one occasion, tried to force her to eat a dead mouse. She said she hid the mouse.

Olivas, when he took the stand, admitted using a belt on his daughter. But he blamed her severe injuries on his wife.