{"slug": "california-mother-boyfriend-plead-guilty-in-abuse-death-of-1-year-old-henry", "title": "California mother, boyfriend plead guilty in abuse death of 1-year-old Henry", "summary": "Samantha Victoria Garver and her boyfriend Sergio Vincent Mena pleaded guilty on Monday to charges related to the 2023 abuse death of Garver's 14-month-old son, Henry Wheatley Brown. Garver admitted to voluntary manslaughter and child abuse, while Mena pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and child abuse. The couple delayed seeking medical care for Henry for 12 hours after he suffered severe burns and other injuries, and Garver had a prior child abuse conviction that did not prevent her from keeping custody of Henry.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...[Samantha Victoria Garver](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/10/04/san-bernardino-mountains-woman-accused-of-murdering-son-was-sought-in-2013-child-abuse-case/) and boyfriend Sergio Vincent Mena entered guilty pleas on Monday, June 15, in the 2023 death of Garver’s 14-month-old son, [Henry Wheatley Brown, who was found burned, bruised and unresponsive](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/10/03/1-year-old-child-with-severe-burns-dies-in-sugarloaf-man-and-woman-arrested/) at their San Bernardino Mountains home months after county child welfare officials allowed the couple to [keep the boy despite numerous reports he was in danger.](https://www.sbsun.com/2024/12/06/could-san-bernardino-county-officials-have-saved-1-year-old-henrys-life/)\n\nAt the San Bernardino Justice Center, Garver, 36, admitted to charges of voluntary manslaughter and child abuse likely to cause great bodily injury. Superior Court Judge Alexander R. Martinez indicated he would sentence Garver to 16 years and four months in state prison.\n\nA murder charge against Garver was dropped.\n\nMena, 34, who was supposed to be watching Henry on the day he died, Oct. 1, 2023, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and child abuse likely to cause great bodily injury. Martinez said he would impose a term of 20 years and four months to life for Mena when the pair are sentenced on July 28.Garver and Mena, dressed in green jailhouse jumpsuits indicating they are housed apart from their jail’s general population, did not speak other than to answer the judge’s questions.\n\nAfter her arrest, Garver told a county Children and Family Services investigator that she left Henry with Mena at the home they shared in the community of Suglarloaf, near Big Bear Lake, and went out for the night — even though she knew Mena had been using methamphetamine and had not slept for two days, a caseworker says in documents obtained by the Southern California News Group.\n\nMena told an investigator that he left Henry in a bathtub with the water running while he got high, the documents say.\n\nGarver returned home in the morning to find Henry with burns on his penis and lower legs that could have been from being dipped in hot water, the documents say.\n\nGarver and Mena provided no care for Henry for 12 hours aside from treating him with an antihistamine until they called 911 around 8 p.m., the documents say. They told first responders that Henry’s heart had stopped about 20 minutes before, the document adds, but investigators said they believe he had been dead longer.\n\nHenry’s body had bruises in various stages of healing. At some point, he had suffered a dislocated arm and had several teeth knocked out, the document says.\n\nGarver was on the radar of Children and Family Services and the Sheriff’s Department long before Henry was killed.\n\nIn March 2013, after a deputy noted other children were sleeping in a bedroom covered with fecal matter, Garver was charged with willful child cruelty that could cause injury or death. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of willful child cruelty. She was sentenced to 100 days in the sheriff’s work-release program and ordered to complete a one-year child abuse treatment program.\n\nBut Garver never reported to jail or attended the classes, resulting in a warrant being issued for her arrest in 2014. Still, Garver remained free until Henry’s death. Authorities have never explained why Garver was never picked up on the warrant.\n\nThe probation-revocation case was dropped on Monday.\n\nWhen Henry was born in August 2022, the infant’s paternal grandmother, Sierra Rivers, called Children and Family Services. A caseworker looked in on Henry and found that Garver was not taking drugs and that the home was clean and had adequate furniture and clothing for the children.\n\nAlthough the risk to Henry for neglect and abuse was “high,” documents say, the caseworker did not include a danger statement or safety plan because none was believed necessary.\n\nIn June 2023, a babysitter, Stephanie Duncan, told a sheriff’s deputy that Henry arrived with bruises on his body.\n\nDuncan, in an interview with the Southern California News Group, said the deputy examined Henry, and Duncan said she showed him photos of the injuries that she shot.\n\nThe deputy went to his patrol car, came back, and said he would visit Garver and Mena, Duncan said.\n\nThe Sheriff’s Department has declined to say what the deputy or the department did, only that the deputy filed a confidential report.\n\n*Anyone concerned about the well-being of a child or adult in San Bernardino County can call the county’s hotline at 800-827-8724.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-mother-boyfriend-plead-guilty-in-abuse-death-of-1-year-old-henry", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/16/san-bernardino-mountains-mother-boyfriend-plead-guilty-in-abuse-death-of-1-year-old-henry/", "published_at": "2026-06-16 18:15:58+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-16 18:22:26.602328+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Samantha Victoria Garver", "Sergio Vincent Mena", "Henry Wheatley Brown", "San Bernardino Justice Center", "Alexander R. Martinez", "Children and Family Services", "Sierra Rivers", "Southern California News Group"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-mother-boyfriend-plead-guilty-in-abuse-death-of-1-year-old-henry", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-mother-boyfriend-plead-guilty-in-abuse-death-of-1-year-old-henry.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-mother-boyfriend-plead-guilty-in-abuse-death-of-1-year-old-henry.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-mother-boyfriend-plead-guilty-in-abuse-death-of-1-year-old-henry.jsonld"}}