A Santa Maria woman has pleaded not guilty to torture and other charges connected to child-abuse allegations in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

Armed with a warrant, Santa Maria police arrested Jenny Altaira Patino, 35, on April 23.

The criminal complaint filed by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office included nine  felony counts.

In addition to torture, she has been charged with two counts of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death, three counts of assault with personal use of a deadly weapon identified as a broom, two counts of corporal injury to a child, and one count of dissuading a witness. 

The incidents occurred between March 2023 and April 2024, according to the complaint. 

Patino also faces a number of sentencing enhancements, including that she has a pair of prior criminal convictions from 2008 and 2011 involving cases from Ventura County.

If convicted of the new charges it would make her third strike under California’s Three Strikes enhanced-sentencing law. Those cases involved being an accessory to a crime and attempted criminal threats, plus gang enhancements for each case.

The primary victim in her current case reportedly was a boy between 9 and 10 years old and referred to John Doe 1.

The dissuading-a-witness charge lists three boys and two girls with the children’s ages spanning from 5 to 12 years old. They also are referred to as John and Jane Does.

Patino entered her pleas during an arraignment hearing last week in a Santa Maria courtroom, and will return May 6 for the judge and attorneys to confirm the date for preliminary hearing, tentatively scheduled for May. 7. 

Patino remained in custody Wednesday at the Santa Barbara County Jail, with bail set at $1.1 million.