Fitchburg mother charged in beating
Cops: Boy said ‘bullies’ attacked
FITCHBURG — A severely injured 9-year-old whose 6-year-old sister died of an apparent beating told police they were attacked by “bullies” — but their mother is facing assault charges after police found a note on her saying “the children were bad and beaten.”
The horrifying details of the case emerged as Shana Pedroso, 37, and the children’s father, Marvin Brito, 38, were arraigned in Fitchburg District Court yesterday and ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing next Wednesday.
Pedroso was charged with assault and battery causing injury to her children and reckless endangerment of their lives. Brito was charged with permitting substantial injury to Julian and Sophia Brito, in addition to reckless endangerment. Prosecutors did not rule out further charges. The parents were represented by separate lawyers. Neither mother nor father displayed emotion in court as not-guilty pleas were entered on their behalf at separate arraignments.
While in an emergency room Tuesday, Julian, 9, told police he and his 6-year-old sister, Sophia, went out for a walk Monday with their parents and two other kids, but when the parents left them, “he and his sister were attacked by bullies,” according to a police report.
Julian, who police said suffered “serious injuries and bruising to his face,” also told officers his mother “had glued a wound on his neck closed with super glue,” and that his parents had told him not to call 911.
Sophia was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive in the family’s home on Stoneybrook Road, where the children were home-schooled.
Police said they observed “extensive bruising of various ages over her entire body.” Her brother said Sophia was unable to drink yesterday morning “and that his mother was mad.”
Police said that while booking Pedroso yesterday they found handwritten notes on her dated Monday saying “that the children were bad and beaten.”
Pedroso was brought into court yesterday shackled, in a “Pink Out” T-shirt, pajama bottoms and socks. Brito, also shackled, mainly kept his eyes downcast.
While the parents were being arraigned, authorities were poring over their house and removing bags of potential evidence.
No relatives made themselves known in court yesterday and Brito’s attorney, Edward Fogarty, said he knew little about his client, including whether the couple is married.
“Obviously it’s a highly stressful situation, as you can imagine. It’s of great impact to him and to the family,” Fogarty told reporters. “I certainly am going to be working very hard on the case in the next few days and I’ll be meeting with my client.”
The Department of Children and Families has taken custody of the 9-year-old boy, but said the agency had no prior involvement with the family, adding in a statement, “The Department of Children and Families continues to assist law enforcement in the active investigation of this tragedy.”