CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Pair Plead Innocent to Child Abuse

A couple allegedly using their children to beg along Fisherman’s Wharf pleaded not guilty to child abuse charges. Police meanwhile pressed their investigation into whether the couple, Richard Hubbard, 29, and Debra Hubbard, 30, have any connection with a child found dead in a plastic bag near the wharf. Debra Hubbard, who is nine months pregnant, and her husband were held on $250,000 bail each pending an Aug. 1 court appearance. They have only three children, but police believe the dead child is theirs; on a 1990 apartment rental agreement, they noted four children. An investigation of the boy’s death led to the Hubbards after they had been seen begging near the wharf, homicide Inspector Ora Guinther said. They were charged with child abuse after police found their three children--6, 5 and 22 months--suffering bruises, cuts and burns. The injuries were so severe that Guinther said they were “in essence, in my opinion, just tortured.”