Jury Chosen for Mother in Child Torture Case

POMONA —  A jury was selected Friday in the case of a San Bernardino County mother accused of torturing her slightly mentally retarded daughter for years and keeping the girl out of school as a family slave.

Maria Carmen Salcedo, 42, of Colton, faces life imprisonment if convicted of torture, felony child abuse, conspiracy to commit child abuse and witness intimidation. The Superior Court jury was chosen Friday afternoon and opening statements are to begin Monday morning.

Salcedo was arrested last August after published reports detailed accusations that she treated her daughter Melissa, now 19, as a slave, forcing her to perform household chores and hiding her in the closet when strangers came to visit. Among the physical abuses alleged by prosecutors: a broken arm, broken teeth, beatings with a belt buckle, being forced to drink out of a toilet, and being denied medical and dental treatment. The incidents were alleged to have occurred between May 1980 and April 1997.

Salcedo has pleaded not guilty.