Fresno grandmother says convicted child abuser doesn't deserve his freedom

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno grandmother says a man who was convicted of child abuse doesn't deserve his freedom. As an infant, Adam Carbajal was violently shaken by his mother's then boyfriend Ramon Curiel.

Adam is now 10 and struggles with permanent brain damage while his attacker will soon be released from prison.

This Halloween Carbajal will be eleven. Trick or Treating will look different for him as he can't walk and can't talk. His life was forever changed the day after his first birthday in 2004 when Ramon Curiel violently shook him. During his sentencing in 2007, Curiel said he was sorry, and that he "lost his cool."

Adam's grandmother, Maria Alvarez-Garcia has never accepted those words. "To be able to shake a child so hard that his eyes detached, that he needed brain surgery, needed a piece of skull removed and replaced because of the injury, that's not normal how can you rehab a person like that."

Maria has dedicated her life to Adam. The 10-year-old will forever be in a state of infancy and Maria will forever live with the memory of what he could and should have been. "The guilt of not protecting him sometimes overwhelms me."

She's turned her mission into Adam's law and Adam's project and she's been working with the state, trying to make sure Ramon Curiel gets sent to a county that's far away from Adam.

Maria said, "He's gonna have no limitation as far as what he wants to do with his personal life and Adam doesn't, he took that away from Adam seven and a half years ago."

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirms that Curiel will be paroled before the end of the month, and that he's served the full term he was given. While Maria can't change that, she says she can only hope that he's changed.

Maria explained, "I'm dreading the news that he did it to somebody else that he hurt another child and that's what scares me."

As for Adam she says he remains a happy child, unaware of what happened and forever unaware of the dreams his family once had for his future.

Adam's family will be holding a large yard sale on Saturday, October 25th, to raise money for modifications for Adam's wheelchair lift. The sale will be held at 3195 S. Cherry in Fresno from 6:30 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon.