UPDATED 12-14 11:05 a.m. with information from the District Attorney’s office.
A Yucca Valley man was arrested Thursday, accused of beating a 2-year-old boy. On November 15, Sheriff’s deputies were called to a home in Twentynine Palms for a case of suspected child abuse. The boy, who had multiple bruises and marks on his legs, had just returned from a custodial visit with James Ooten Jr., 25. On December 3, an arrest warrant was issued for Ooten. When James Ooten Jr. reported to the county Probation Office in Joshua Tree Thursday morning, he was arrested on suspicion of felony child cruelty, booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, with his bail set at $250,000. The District Attorney’s office has refiled the case as felony child abuse against James Ooten.
