Probation for Rolling Meadows man in infant’s death

Jan. 4, 2011 wasn’t the first day members of Reymond Trejo’s family left him alone at their Rolling Meadows home. It was the last, the day authorities say the unattended infant suffocated after he fell off a queen size bed and onto a pile of laundry.

“Five-month-old Reymond Trejo is dead because nobody cared about him. He was an inconvenience to the entire family,” said Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Andre during the sentencing hearing for Reymond’s grandfather, Jose Trejo, 47, who pleaded guilty to endangering the life of a child Tuesday in Rolling Meadows.

Prosecutors requested a lengthy prison sentence. Judge Hyman Riebman sentenced Trejo — who has no criminal background — to 30 months probation. Calling Trejo’s actions thoughtless and grossly negligent, Riebman said he didn’t believe the defendant intended to harm the baby, adding “to send this man to the penitentiary would be inconsistent with justice.”

Trejo’s estranged wife Eugenia Trejo, 49, faces the same charges. She next appears in court on Oct. 19. If convicted, she could face between two and 10 years in prison. Probation is also an option.

“What kind of person leaves an infant alone in the house to fend for himself?” asked Andre, referring to Trejo’s admission that he left the baby alone while he went to his handyman job at the apartment complex on the 2500 block of Algonquin Road where Trejo lived with his then-17-year-old daughter, who is Reymond’s mother, and Trejo’s 10-year-old son. Eugenia Trejo, who had been appointed the baby’s guardian the day before his death, was living in Des Plaines at the time, prosecutors said. According to testimony, Eugenia Trejo took care of the baby during the day when her estranged husband was at work and their children were in school.

Trejo told police he returned home from his second job at 10 p.m. Jan. 3, prepared Reymond’s bottles and moved the baby from his bassinet to the bed where Trejo placed Reymond between him and his son. Trejo said he left for work about 7 a.m. the next day, about the same time his daughter left for high school. Eugenia Trejo had not yet arrived and their son and the baby were still asleep. According to testimony, Trejo returned home several times that morning, but Eugenia was not there. Each time he returned to work, leaving Reymond alone. At 10 a.m., Trejo returned again to find Eugenia but no Reymond. Unable to locate the baby, Eugenia went to the high school to get their daughter while Trejo went back to work. Remembering he had not checked the bedside, he returned to the apartment to find Reymond dead, he told police.

Detective Philip Barrile testified that Trejo told him he did not call paramedics and that he knew the baby was dead. Wrapping the infant in a blanket, Trejo placed him in the car and drove to the high school where he met Eugenia, who took the baby to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Barrile said.

Barrile testified that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services had investigated the family about 10 years earlier on charges Jose and Eugenia had left their children home alone.

Trejo admitted he left Reymond alone “multiple times in the past” and that if Eugenia wasn’t there he “continues on with his day,” Barrile said.

Trejo’s children were removed from the apartment following Reymond’s death, said DCFS child welfare specialist Carmen Santos, testifying for the defense. Since then the family has undergone counseling and complied with court orders, Santos said, informing the court that the children returned home in March.

“They wanted to be home. They wanted to be with their father,” she said.

Arguing for probation, defense attorney Paul R. Day said Trejo had taken responsibility and admitted his failure in judgment.

“I am very sorry,” Trejo said. “I loved my grandson, and I regret everything that happened.”