Adriana Rivas charged in whipping attack on 6

Adriana Rivas, on the left, appears in court with her attorney, on the right, on Aug. 29, 2023, in Franklin County, Wash. (Benton-Franklin Counties Superior Court)

A 6-year-old girl briefly went missing after being whipped by her mother and left home alone, authorities in Washington State say.

Adriana Giselle Rivas, 25, stands accused of one count each of assault of a child in the second degree, and family abandonment over the recent incident, according to Franklin County Jail records reviewed by Law&Crime. In the past, Rivas has been a defendant in numerous different criminal cases, according to Evergreen State court records.

The child in question is now safe – she was found at her grandmother’s residence by the Pasco Police Department after Rivas herself reported the girl as missing, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by the Tri-City Herald.

“The facts alleged in this case are absolutely horrific,” Franklin County Deputy Prosecutor Dave Corkrum told Judge David Petersen during a bond hearing earlier this week, according to the newspaper.

The judge agreed with the state – reportedly musing that after looking over search warrants filed in the case, while the girl was still missing, he was surprised the woman’s daughter was found alive.

The initial call in the case came around 7:45 p.m. on Aug, 22, when Rivas got back from Fred Meyer supermarket to find her younger daughter gone. According to the PPD, the defendant told them she left the little girl at home because she had defecated in her pants – taking her 8-year-old with her to buy food and toilet paper. Rivas allegedly told police she took the bus to the grocery store.

Another adult, however, told police another story.

Henry Lopez said he took Rivas to the store that night. After that, the man said, he went to the home of Rivas’ mother and told her about the whipping incident involving her daughter and granddaughter. During that alleged attack, the defendant used an HDMI cable and only stopped hitting the child when Lopez himself intervened, police wrote.

Lopez also told law enforcement he also saw bruises on the 6-year-old the day before; and saw another set of bruises on the girl’s face the day she was allegedly whipped – finding the girl in the bathtub each time.

Rivas, in a later police interview conducted after being given a Miranda warning by PPD Detective Julie Lee, would allegedly admit to getting so upset with her younger daughter over the bathroom incident that she “saw red” and started whipping the girl with the HDMI cable.

“Adriana said that she hit the child so many times, she couldn’t give me a number,” Lee wrote in the affidavit.

It is unclear how the child made it to her grandmother’s home.

After being found, she was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, which is located some 15 minutes across Lake Wallula – in the broader Tri-Cities metropolitan area; Kennewick rounds out the medium-sized trio in southwestern Washington. Hospital staff determined the young victim had several bruises, new and old, and red marks that would have come from being hit with some kind of a cord.

“She is in danger of losing her home and pets,” defense attorney Tim Dickerson argued in court on Tuesday – noting that his client is a college student. “She has no money and no way of posting bail.”

Dickerson also said Rivas’ criminal history was not violent and that all of her other offenses occurred when she was a minor.

The state also noted that Rivas has 22 probation violations – and that she failed to appear in court on 24 separate occasions.

During that Aug. 29 court appearance, Judge Petersen assessed her $75,000 bail on the assault of a child charge. The day before, a hold on the family abandonment charge was removed.

Both of the defendant’s daughters were reportedly removed from her custody and placed in protective care.

Law&Crime has reached out to various local law enforcement agencies for additional information about this case.

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