The District Attorney's office has dropped all charges against a Corcoran corrections officer. Bakersfield Police arrested 43-year-old Alfred Hernandez after his girlfriend accused him of trying to strangle her and smother her screams with a pillow. Now, she says that didn't happen, and Hernandez's lawyer found that's not her only lie.
"I was very angry and upset and I said things I shouldn't have said and I regret it," said Sarah Delgado after all charges were dropped against her ex-boyfriend, corrections officer, Alfred Hernandez.
The couple had dated three months and lived together for three weeks when, on January 21st, Delgado called police to their home around 3:30 in the morning claiming Hernandez was trying to strangle her.
"It was very, very fabricated," said Hernandez.
Hernandez, just hours after he'd learned the charges had been dropped, wanted to share his side of the story of what happened.
"She was displaying behavior that was erratic, and I said if you are not going to take medication or get this treated you have to get out. And two days later, I was in jail," explained Hernandez.
He also talked about the morning of the arrest. "I heard her kicking the dryer and screaming. So, I get up and and I open the door and she's screaming. And, I say, who are you talking too? What's going on? And, she told me she called 9-1-1, and I said you need to come to bed, the kids are asleep. So, I walk into the bedroom, she's hitting me. And, I said what do you want? And, she said I want my phone. And, I handed her the phone and she threw it against a wall. So, I turn on the light and we started wrestling right there because she was hitting me and I had her pinned down, and the next thing I know, I look up and police are at the house."
Hernandez spent four days in jail, was placed on administrative leave at work, had his three kids turned over to their biological mother from a previous marriage, and was evicted because of the charges. Then, he got a text from Delgado saying she is pregnant.
"So, then about seven or eight days later she produces this ultrasound. And, I showed a friend of mine and she said that's fake-a-baby.com," said Hernandez.
Www.fakeababy.com is a website where people can buy fake baby bumps, birth certificates, DNA. tests and ultrasounds as a gag. When Hernandez's lawyer compared the picture his client had received from Delgado with the one on the website, they were identical down to the serial number. And, Hernandez knew it was fake because he says both he and Delgado were sterilized. Kyle Humphrey, Hernandez's defense lawyer, was going to use the findings for his client's defense.
"Nothing other than a miracle of the Bible sort could have resulted in a pregnancy. We could use this to damage the opposition," said Humphrey.
The pregnancy text was followed by a number of other text messages Humphrey says Delgado sent to Hernandez, admitting she's struggling with mental illness.
"We felt that there wouldn't be a reasonable likelihood of a conviction," said Deputy District Attorney, Kim Richardson.
On Friday, going into a preliminary hearing, Hernandez learned the charges were dropped and Delgado apologized.
"I'm glad this got resolved and I apologized to him and his family," said Delgado.
"It was pretty calculated," said Hernandez. "You go after his house, his family. You know, it was pretty traumatizing."
"You can't take the side of an accuser and assume that is going to be the truth in the end," said Humphrey. "Accusations are easily made, hard to defend."
Hernandez says his work does a separate investigation into all matters and he's waiting to hear on the status of his job and what this means for his kids.
Delgado told 17 News she is now taking medication for her mental condition.