Brandon Lee Cervera Starving 4-year-old son: Police

Brandon Lee Cervera via Bexar County Jail

A Texas father was arrested this week after police said he intentionally abused and starved his young son. Brandon Lee Cervera28, is arrested on Thursday and charge with one count of wounding a child with intent to cause serious bodily injury in August 2021 the death of a 4-year-old Benjamin Cervera.

According to an affidavit probable cause obtained by San Antonio ABC affiliate, KSAT-TV, Brandon Cervera on August 17, 2021 brought an unconscious Benjamin Cervera to the emergency room at San Antonio Children’s Hospital. According to the report, a nurse called 911 and told police that a boy had just been taken to the Emergency Room in a potentially abusive condition.

According to the report, Benjamin had many bruises in various healing states and appeared extremely emaciated. He was also wearing a disposable diaper, which authorities noted was unusual for a baby less than two months old, said San Antonio Fox affiliate KABB report.

Paramedics attempted to resuscitate the child but their efforts were unsuccessful and Benjamin was pronounced dead minutes after arriving at the facility. San Antonio Police Department homicide detectives responded to the scene and similarly noted that Benjamin appeared to be severely malnourished and had persistent bruising indicating physical abuse.

Homicide investigators interviewed Cervera, who allegedly testified that all of his son’s injuries were self-inflicted. He allegedly added that a family member staying at his apartment had cell phone video proving that Benjamin had harmed himself.

However, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office conducted an autopsy and in an initial report determined that Benjamin’s injuries were not self-inflicted; they were the result of physical abuse, and not the cause of his death, KABB reported. The medical examiner later concluded that Benjamin had starved to death.

Detectives obtained and executed a search warrant for Cervera’s apartment, where they reportedly discovered alarming evidence of abuse Benjamin suffered at the hands of Cervera.

Inside the apartment, the kitchen cabinets, pantry doors and refrigerator are said to be locked to prevent Benjamin from getting the food inside, according to KABB. There is also a padlock outside Benjamin’s bedroom door that appears to have been used to lock the child inside. The boy’s bedroom is said to contain only a single mattress that was contaminated with urine.

According to KABB, a cell phone seized from a relative who was staying at the apartment contained many hateful videos and photos that further demonstrated abuse. One reported video shows a starving Benjamin “smashing his own head with his hand and begging for bread”. Benjamin appeared in a recent photo with “severely bruised and swollen eyes”, the report states.

As KABB reports, the videos on family members’ phones only add to the annoyance.

The second video is said to show Cervera and a relative refusing to give Benjamin food while the boy “shaking uncontrollably, crying and begging for bread and water”. In another video, Benjamin is forced to “eat bread crumbs on the bathroom floor without using his hands,” as the report describes.

Other videos are said to depict Benjamin being forced to drink hand sanitizer and “begging for water while crying and waving his hand in front of his mouth saying he was burned”, KABB reported.

Cervera is currently being held in the Bexar County Jail. A magistrate judge put his bail at $500,000, online profile only. He is currently scheduled to appear before the judge in a preliminary hearing on March 29.

Profile display that Lee is also scheduled to begin a grand jury trial next month for the 2018 intimidation and harassment charges.

Family members whose phones were seized have not been charged in Benjamin’s death.

[image via Bexar County Jail]

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