6 OC Parents Arrested For Allowing Children To Be Chronically Truant From School
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Orange County authorities have arrested six local parents for allowing their children to be chronically truant from school despite repeated warnings from officials.
A truancy sweep was conducted Thursday morning in Santa Ana, resulting in the arrests of Toya Daniels, 38, Gustavo Martinez, 48, Maria de la Luz Martinez, 37, Cheree Peoples, 33, Toni Marie Aranda, 32, and 34-year-old Virginia Ferrer Avila, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said.
"California law requires school-aged children to be enrolled in and attend school and failure to comply with the law can result in juvenile court proceedings for the child or criminal prosecution of the parent(s)," the DA's office said in a statement.
Unexcused absences for the defendants' children ranged from 12 to 24 days of school.
Each parent has been charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. They were all booked at the Orange County Jail and released on their own recognizance.
If convicted, each defendant could face up to one year in jail and $2,500 in fines. An arraignment date has not been determined.
The truancy sweep was part of a joint effort by the OC Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership and teams from the Buena Park Police Department, Orange County District Attorney's Office, Orange County Probation Department, Orange Police Department, Santa Ana Police Department, and Santa Ana Unified School District Police Department.
