Oakdale Police Department investigators have arrested an Oakdale man for the ongoing abuse of a one-year-old boy who is in the hospital in stable condition.

Modesto and Oakdale Police Department officers were called to Memorial Medical Center in Modesto on Sept. 9 after the baby was admitted with suspicious injuries. The baby suffered two broken ribs, a fractured arm, lacerations to his kidney and liver, damage to the pancreas, internal bleeding, and severe bruising throughout his body. His injuries were so severe that he was transported to UC Davis Children’s Hospital in Sacramento.

Investigators determined that the child, along with his two siblings, lived in Oakdale.

They also discovered that just a few weeks prior to the incident, Child Protective Services was called out to the same home to investigate suspicious injuries found on a sibling – a two-year-old boy.

On Sept. 15, Oakdale PD investigators conducted a search warrant at a home and arrested Damion Middleton,19, of Oakdale in connection with the case. Middleton is reportedly the mother’s boyfriend. Police also took a cell phone into evidence. Middleton was booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on multiple child abuse charges. Bail was set at $50,000.

Police are searching for the mother of the children, identified as 21-year-old Mercedes Luna-Rodriguez. The other children in the home – a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy – have been placed into foster care. The one-year-old remains hospitalized.

Anyone with information about this case or Luna-Rodriguez’s whereabouts are asked to contact Detective Madyson Falconi at the Oakdale Police Department, 209 847-2231.