A 24-year-old Aloha woman who admitted to trying to suffocate her children when they were babies has signed a plea deal that could send her to prison.
Facing accusations including first-degree assault and strangulation, Rosa Vasquez-Vasquez pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment in Washington County Circuit Court.
Deputy District Attorney Andy Pulver said authorities learned of her crimes in November, when she came forward to report that she was a victim of long-term abuse.
Investigators asked her how that abuse had affected her, Pulver said, and she said she'd had thoughts of harming her children and had acted on those thoughts in the past when she felt depressed.
During the conversation, he said, Vasquez-Vasquez told investigators that when her now-4-year-old was 18 months old, she put a plastic bag over his head.
She further told them that when her now-2-year-old was a month old, she pushed his face into a mattress, Pulver said. Both times, she stopped when the children's breathing became labored.
Vasquez-Vasquez, who wore jail scrubs, her hair pulled into a ponytail, dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
Rosa Vasquez-Vasquez
She will have a chance to address the court at her sentencing, set for Aug. 11.
Per her plea agreement, Presiding Judge Charles Bailey could impose probation or more than 18 months in prison.
-- Emily E. Smith
esmith@oregonian.com
503-294-4032; @emilyesmith