Father who allegedly raped 14-year-old daughter had warrant out for arrest before birth of ‘Baby Angelita.’

In August 2024, Sergio Galvez Perez was pulled over by a Monterey County Sheriff's deputy, two years before he would be charged with raping his daughter and the baby she gave birth to would be found dead. 

Prosecutors have accused Galvez Perez of raping his 14-year-old daughter, causing her to give birth to a baby found dead on the side of a road in Moss Landing on Aug. 1, 2026. He then took his daughter to Mexico with him, where both were found, the Sheriff's Office announced on Oct. 4. 

Court records show a series of run-ins with sheriff's deputies and the California Highway Patrol in the months leading up to the birth and death of the baby, dubbed by authorities as “Baby Angelita,” during which he had an active warrant out for his arrest from missing a court date.

Although there was an arrest warrant filed again with the court from July 1, the Sheriff's Office waited to arrest him until they obtained another arrest warrant on Aug. 19. By then, he had allegedly kidnapped the 14-year-old on Aug. 4 and was gone. 

The Sheriff's Office did not respond to a request for comment on the previous arrest warrant. 

In a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 8 officials revealed grisly details about the death of the baby, which authorities said was run over by the car the 14-year-old had driven. That led the Sheriff's Office to obtain an arrest warrant for her on suspicion of murder, an accusation that led to public blowback. 

Sheriff Tina Nieto spent much of her speaking time saying her office received criticism from the media and public without knowing all the facts of the investigation.

When authorities from the Sheriff's Office questioned the teen’s mother, Ofelia Ortega Garcia, Galvez Perez and the 14-year-old, they seized their cell phones, interviewed them and obtained their DNA on Aug. 3. At that point, authorities said there was not any indication that Galvez Perez was the father of the baby. 

The 14-year-old, who told detectives she had given birth after having sex with an unidentified boy, was taken to the hospital by detectives. Galvez Perez then took her out of the hospital on Aug. 4 before she was set to be discharged. That triggered an alert to Child Protective Services, said Richard Gent, the lead investigator in the Sheriff's Office. 

Authorities put out an Amber Alert for the 14-year-old on Sept. 6. Both the 14-year-old and Galvez Perez went to Mexico, where they were located and are now awaiting extradition to the United States. 

The teen has not been charged with a crime as of Oct. 8. Nobody has been charged with murder in this case. Besides the charges filed against Galvez Perez, the girl's mother is facing charges of child endangerment.

The outstanding arrest warrant, which was still valid during the investigation, came from when Galvez Perez was cited with driving with a revoked license due to a DUI committed a little earlier that month, and with a vehicle code infraction of unlawful lighting equipment in August 2024. 

The arrest warrant with $5,000 in bail was approved by a judge and received by the Sheriff's Office in October 2024 after Galvez Perez failed to show up for his September 2024 court date. 

Court records show no record of an arrest or payout of bail on that case. 

Galvez Perez wouldn't register in the Monterey County Superior Court system again until after May 13, 2026, when the California Highway Patrol pulled him over for having an expired registration. Still unlicensed, and with no insurance on the vehicle, he was ticketed. 

It didn't take long for him to get pulled over again for a broken headlight just over a week later on May 21, this time by a sheriff's deputy.

The same thing played out—pulled over in Moss Landing, he was given a citation for broken lighting. The deputy wrote down on the ticket that he had a pending court case and bail amount. The deputy wrote him a new court date, and did not arrest him.

Galvez Perez ran into a sheriff's deputy again a week later, and he was cited with a misdemeanor for possessing methamphetamine on May 28. Records show he was arrested, but never had a jail booking number. He was given another court date. 

When the court date for driving with a revoked license rolled around on July 29, he failed to show up for that, too. He has never shown up to court, according to court records, and has never been assigned an attorney.

Three days later after the missed court hearing, Baby Angelita would be found dead on the side of Struve Road on Aug. 1.