Crime & Safety

Woman Arrested For Child Abuse at Mountain View Bookstore

Police now believe that the Palo Alto woman pinched, rather than bit, another woman's children at Bookbuyers in downtown Mountain View.

A Palo Alto woman believed to have  Thursday may not actually have down so, police officials announced Friday.

"We no longer believe the two children were bitten by the suspect. Instead, we believe she pinched them," said Liz Wylie, spokeswoman for the , in an email. "The only person who saw what happened was the toddler, so we don’t have any credible witnesses. The injuries are not consistent with being bit."

The Filipina suspect Polly Beltramo, 46, allegedly pinched the cheeks of a 2-year-old girl and her 2-month-old brother, who accompanied the mother as she shopped at . She then fled, but officers found her at a nearby . Beltramo was then arrested and booked for felony child abuse pursuant to penal code section 273d(a).

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However, the development from the police department "most certainly could affect the charging," a spokeswoman from the District Attorney's office said.

"Once the law enforcement agency is finished with the investigation, they will bring it into our office," said Lisa McCrary. "It is possible to still have charges for the pinching (unwanted touching, battery, etc. upon a child)."

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McCrary added that a Deputy District Attorney then reviews the matter and decides based on the facts what to charge.

Beltramo has been released on her own recognizance, according to McCrary. Her arraignment date is set for Jan. 26 in the Palo Alto Court.

Editor's Note: The following is the language for penal code section 273d(a): Any person who willfully inflicts upon a child any cruel or inhuman corporal punishment or an injury resulting in a traumatic condition is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for two, four, or six years, or in a county jail for not more than one year, by a fine of up to six thousand dollars ($6,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine.


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