Parents of Boy Who Died of Head Injury Charged With Child Endangerment : Crime: The arrests are made at a Camarillo strawberry field, where the Oxnard couple worked. The father denies ever abusing the 2-year-old child.

Ten months after a 2-year-old Oxnard boy died from a severe head injury, his farm worker parents have been arrested and charged with four counts each of child endangerment.

At the time of his death, Rene Ambriz also had a broken leg, severe burns and scars on his chest, neck and head, and a black eye and bruises on one hip, Oxnard Detective Edward Neitzel said Wednesday.

A relative said Rene died after falling from a bed onto a concrete floor, and in a jail interview, Rene’s father denied ever abusing his child. He said he could not afford medical attention for what he thought were minor, accidental injuries to the child.

Jose Ambriz, 59, and his wife Virginia Cervantes, 30, were arrested Tuesday at a strawberry field in Camarillo where they worked. They were taken to Ventura County Jail, where they are being held on $10,000 bail each, and are scheduled to be arraigned today. Prosecutors said the couple faces one count each for the child’s internal head injury, one count for the chest burn, one for the broken leg and one for continuous abuse.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Patrice Koenig, who is in charge of the investigation, said the parents face a maximum of six years in state prison on each charge.

She said prosecutors could still charge the couple with murder later, but “we are not actively pursuing that course.”

Rene was pronounced dead on arrival at St. John’s Medical Center on June 10. Family members and investigators said the boy had suffered a seizure produced by the head injury.

On Wednesday, Jose Ambriz called his son’s death a regrettable accident. “I have never hit my child and neither has my wife,” said Ambriz, who speaks no English and who described himself as illiterate.

He said he didn’t seek medical help for his son before the seizure because “in this country, unless you have money or recommendations, you can’t get anything done for you.”

Besides, he said, his son appeared healthy and playful before his death. “I don’t believe those pictures they showed me with his twisted foot, because his foot was straight and he was walking around,” Ambriz said.

Koenig said the charges were filed after a careful investigation. “We consulted several experts, and they all felt the child suffered physical abuse,” she said.

Moreover, neglect and failure to get medical attention are sufficient grounds for charges against the couple, she said.

As for Ambriz’s contention that he was unaware that free medical treatment was available for Rene, Koenig responded that Virginia Cervantes received medical attention when she gave birth to Rocio Ambriz, now 5 months old, “and they did get medical attention for the other children.”

Ambriz said he grew up in a small village in Michoacan, Mexico, and has worked in the United States on and off for years.

The fieldworker brought Rene and his siblings across the border in December, 1990, Koenig said. The remaining children are in county custody.

Ambriz, who said he would go for days without eating to feed his children, said, “If somebody ever saw me hurt my child, then I can understand. But I have all my neighbors as witnesses that I never hurt my boy.”

“Why are they depriving me the chance to earn a few cents for my family?” he asked angrily.

His wife is devastated, he added. Before her arrest, “All she did was sit in a corner of her room and cry and cry,” he said.

Koenig said she could not comment on whether the other Ambriz children--Noel, 12; Eugenio, 10; Diego, 6, and Rocio--have ever been abused. But a source close to the investigation said there was no evidence of abuse.

Ambriz’s nephew, Benjamin Navarro Ambriz, 38, said he was stunned to learn of the arrests. “They are good persons, and this tragedy occurred because of their ignorance,” said Navarro, who has lived in the United States for 22 years.

Navarro said Ambriz and his wife left their children with a neighbor while they were at work, and he had visited them frequently.

“I never saw anybody hit them,” he said. He said Ambriz and his family lived with four other families in a small apartment with concrete floors and no running water in Oxnard’s La Colonia neighborhood.

Rene broke his leg while playing in a park, Navarro said, and the child was burned while taking a bath in a bucket when a sibling accidentally turned the hot water on. He said the boy suffered the head injury when he fell from his bed onto the concrete floor.

Next-door neighbors Paula Gomez and Maria Ambriz--no relation to Rene--said they never heard or saw any signs of physical abuse with the Ambriz children.

“When we heard what happened on the radio, we couldn’t believe it,” Gomez said.