Murder Charge Dropped Against Stepdad Accused of Abusing Boy Who Later Died

The father of a 4-year-old California boy is condemning prosecutors after his son’s stepfather received a plea deal that removed a murder charge in a child abuse case that ended with the boy’s death.

“They gave up,” said Felipe Lopez, the father of Moses Lopez, whose small body was found covered with bruises and injuries after he was abused by his stepfather, Oscar Munoz, according to court records obtained by The Stockton Record.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Lopez said prosecutors “failed my son” as Munoz was sentenced to six years in prison. Under the agreement, Munoz pleaded no contest to child abuse and willful cruelty to a child, along with a three-year enhancement for causing great bodily injury.

Munoz and Moses’ mother, Camila Pizarro-Vergara, were arrested in 2020 and initially charged with murder in connection with the child’s death on Nov. 16, 2020. In a press release, the Tracy Police Department said officers were sent to the couple’s apartment in the 3800 block of West Grant Line Road after receiving a report that a child was not breathing.

“Police and medical personnel responded, and [Moses] was transported to a local hospital, via ambulance,” the department said at the time. “The child later died after life-saving efforts failed to revive him.”

According to a search warrant affidavit reviewed by the Record, staff at Moses’ daycare had noticed an injury to his left ear in October 2020. The following month, daycare employees contacted Child Protective Services after observing additional injuries on the boy’s left ear, chest and face, the affidavit said.

On the day Moses died, Munoz told investigators he realized the child was not moving and called his parents before dialing 911, according to the affidavit. When paramedics began treating Moses, they allegedly saw “severe bruising” on the back of his head and around his neck.

Munoz and Moses’ mother met in August 2019 and got married in February 2020. Lopez told reporters Tuesday that one of the last times he saw his son was on his birthday in June 2020. Pizarro-Vergara allegedly blocked Lopez’s number and blocked him on social media, while refusing to let him spend time with Moses.

“He was just a little 4-year-old boy, he did not deserve that,” Lopez said Tuesday. “No child deserves that.”

Moses’ family gathered with supporters outside the San Joaquin County courthouse where Munoz was sentenced to protest his plea deal. The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office released a statement explaining why an agreement was made.

“In 2022, our office commenced a jury trial where Oscar Munoz was charged with murder,” the DA’s office explained. “The trial resulted in a hung jury with a majority of the jurors voting for acquittal. After reviewing the evidence and the testimony, our office accepted a plea to child abuse with great bodily injury with a sentence of 9 years in state prison.”

The DA’s office said that before the entry of the plea on July 9, it “conferred with the victim’s family and advised them of the intended resolution,” per the statement.

“The entire office understands and deeply shares in the community’s profound grief during this unimaginably difficult time,” the DA’s release said. “The death of young Moses is a tragedy for which this office is committed to achieving justice.”

According to prosecutors, Munoz’s plea will count as a strike under California’s “Three Strikes Law.” Deputy District Attorney Elton Grau told Moses’ family in court that the decision to reach a plea deal was ultimately based on what prosecutors believed they could prove.

“There are times in our cases where the ethics of a prosecutor calls, and it asks us to stand up and to say, ‘Can you prove this?'” Grau explained. “And it breaks my heart when I look at all of you to say: I could not, I could not prove that, and that’s why I had to resolve it.”

Outside the courthouse, Lopez told reporters, “This is not right, like I said. This is not justice for my son.”

Court records show that Pizarro-Vergara is still facing charges in connection with Moses’ death and was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for an arraignment.