Man gets 11 years in prison for drowning his daughter in church baptismal pool

SANTA ROSA » A Northern California man was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the 2016 drowning of his 4-year-old daughter in the baptismal pool of a Catholic church.

Gerardo Mendoza, 47, had been smoking methamphetamine for three days and began believing his two youngest children were “being attacked by evil” when he took them to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in the small California wine country city of Healdsburg on Nov. 20, 2016, authorities have said.

The 11-year sentence issued by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Robert LaForge Wednesday was predetermined, part of a negotiated plea to manslaughter that Mendoza agreed to as he was facing trial on murder charges, which could have put him in prison for 25 years to life, the Press Democrat reported.

Investigators said Mendoza wanted to find a priest. But after he couldn’t find one, he led his daughter Maria and 9-year-old son into a cross-shaped baptismal pool at least a foot (30 centimeters) deep, court documents show.

He then carried the girl’s body to a nearby police station and stood naked in the station’s back parking lot yelling “help” and “police” in Spanish as he held his fully clothed and soaked daughter, authorities said. His 9-year-old son stood next to him wearing only shorts.

The child was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.