Mother, Boyfriend Face Child Abuse Charges After Death Of 5-Year-Old

ORANGEVALE (CBS13) - Deputies have arrested a mother and her boyfriend on suspicion of child abuse after the death of a 5-year-old boy.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department says first responders were called to the 8700 block of Pershing Avenue for a reported drowning. At the scene, medics found an unresponsive child and transported him to the hospital.

He later pronounced dead.

Deputies were soon alerted that the boy had injuries inconsistent with drowning. Detectives investigated the circumstances surrounding the boy's death and as a result arrested the child's mother, 32-year-old Jessica Diane Prater, and the mother's boyfriend, 39-year-old Adam Jay Caldwell.

Both Prater and Caldwell were booked at Sacramento County Jail and are facing felony child abuse causing death, torture and conspiracy charges. They are not eligible for bail.

Detectives note Caldwell is not the boy's biological father.