Merced police seeking charges in toddler’s 2014 death

Blood found on the tires of a Merced man’s truck matched that of a 3-year-old boy who was killed in November 2014, the Merced Police Department reported Thursday.

Merced police will ask prosecutors to file child endangerment charges against 23-year-old Jonathan K. Thao, Sgt. Scott Skinner said in a news release.

The child, Santos Alvarez, died Nov. 3 after he was struck by a vehicle while in Thao’s care.

Investigators found blood on the outside of the driver’s-side rear tire and inside the middle tread of the tire. The blood was sent to a state Justice Department laboratory for analysis. Those results came back this week and, according to police, the blood was the child’s.

Skinner told the Sun-Star that police would send the case to the Merced County District Attorney’s Office for review.

Thao, in a Sun-Star interview in November, admitted changing parts of his story to police and the media. He initially claimed he was the boy’s father and later said he was the boyfriend of the boy’s mother. Both those statements were false, he admitted to the Sun-Star. Thao’s parents and the boy’s mother, Sophoeun Alvarez, were also present during the interview.

“I might have been irritated with some of things people were saying, and I may have answered a few things wrong,” Thao explained later.

He said the pressure of the tense, emotionally charged situation caused him to misspeak.

The child’s mother acknowledged being displeased with Thao’s mistatements, but defended him during the same Sun-Star interview, describing him as a good friend.

Sophoeun Alvarez’s attorney, Neal Kuvara, declined to comment Thursday.

Many of the child’s other relatives accused Thao of “doing something to the baby” during an uncomfortable verbal exchange at a candlelight vigil, a few days after the boy died.

Thao told police he was taking the boy to a fast-food restaurant on West 13th Street. He said the child was stuck by a pickup truck in the parking lot and that the vehicle fled the scene.

Police told Thao no such incident was captured on the restaurant’s surveillance video. Officers also told Thao the surveillance video did not record his vehicle being in the parking lot at the time of the incident. Police said Thao suggested someone had tampered with the video.

“Thao also indicated (that) upon picking (Santos) Alvarez up, he didn’t see any blood on him and that he didn’t start bleeding until he was putting him into his truck,” Skinner said in the statement. “Thao agreed to take a voice stress test and was deceptive in his answers.”

Police said Thao continues to deny “accidentally running over Alvarez with his vehicle.”

“Through the course of the investigation detectives never believed that Thao had intentionally hit Alvarez with his vehicle,” Skinner said. “However, investigators believe based on the evidence that Thao’s action were negligent and endangered the victim.”

Thao was arrested March 17 in an unrelated case after leading police on a chase with a miniature motorcycle. He pleaded guilty to a felony evading charge nine days later. He also pleaded guilty to a felony drug-possession charge and admitted two probation violations, according to Merced Superior Court records.

He is scheduled for sentencing in those cases May 7. He remains in custody at the John Latorraca Correctional Facility.

Thao’s criminal record also includes prior convictions for felony assault, weapons possession and petty theft, court records show.

This story was originally published April 23, 2015 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Merced police seeking charges in toddler’s 2014 death."