NEW HAVEN, Ky. (LEX 18) — In the spring of 2023, authorities arrested James Saldana of New Haven for allegations of abusing and assaulting his children.
Investigators found Saldana’s home in deplorable conditions and discovered that he had injured one of his children so badly that they had suffered permanent, debilitating injuries.
After pleading guilty to the charges, Saldana will be sentenced in February, and his oldest daughter, Veronica, believes he could be released with time served as early as this June.
In the meantime, she’s coming forward with her own account of a nightmarish childhood.
“I don't know what the words are. It was so bad. Every way you can think of a person being a bad parent…starving, beating, sexually assaulting,” said Veronica. “I spent so much of my childhood trying to find a redeeming trait to them, trying to find some reason why my parents were so cruel to me.”
Now 26 years old and free from her parents’ control, Veronica wants to share her side of the story.
She told LEX 18 that she and eight younger siblings grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, before the family moved to New Haven, Kentucky.
Her parents, she claims, hopped from cult to cult, using conspiracy theories to guide their parenting.
“They would make us drink their urine,” said Veronica. “It started in Jersey but it didn't stop when we came to Kentucky. They were into conspiracy theories and crazy stuff and they hated modern medicine and thought it was a scam. They said drinking and soaking in our urine would cure us of all our diseases and they made me put urine in my eyes because they didn't want to take me to get glasses.”
Hidden from society, the children never received schooling or medical treatment. It’s that lack of exposure that deterred Veronica from getting help over the years.
In January 2023, while hiding from her father in a park, Veronica was approached by a Nelson County Sheriff’s Deputy.
“I was so tired, so I told him the truth, and I told him I was scared to go home, and I told him why, and he just listened and was so sweet, and he didn't question me or say I was lying,” said Veronica.
The encounter launched an investigation. Last spring, Detective Walter Wetzel with the Nelson County Sheriff’s Department shared some of the details with LEX 18.
“There were feces throughout the house and large piles of moldy laundry,” said Detective Wetzel. “This was a pretty horrendous case and it does shock you to your core.”
In April 2023, 55-year-old James Saldana was arrested.
He was charged with four counts of first-degree criminal abuse for a child under the age of 12, a Class B felony, and first-degree assault (domestic violence), also a Class B felony.
Saldana's grand jury indictment details incidents that occurred between September 2017 and January 2023. For the assault charge, the indictment claims that in September 2021, Saldana allegedly slammed the head of one of his children into a table and failed to render aid.
LEX 18 also learned that while in New Jersey in 2017, Saldana was charged with unlawful possession of weapons and endangering/neglect of a child after an officer found assault rifles and loaded handguns in his home.
“For the first 12 or 13 years of my life, it was normal for my father to pull his gun on us at the dinner table,” claimed Veronica.
After 12 months of probation, Saldana’s gun charges in New Jersey were dismissed.
Now, after pleading guilty to his current charges, Saldana will be sentenced next month, leaving his children wondering if their father will walk free and continue the cycle.
“He will try to find me and my siblings because he says that's what he wants to do. He said he wants to find them and take them back as his because he sees them as his property,” said Veronica.
Saldana will be sentenced on February 22.
As Veronica reestablishes a life away from her parents, receiving medical treatment and seeking employment for the first time, she has created a GoFundMe for support. You can donate and read more of her story here.
