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Authorities stall deportation of starved child's father


DES MOINES, Iowa A man awaiting deportation to Mexico may have to spend the rest of the year in jail if a judge decides he is needed for an upcoming trial involving his starved daughter and her mother.

Fernando Lopez is the father of three-year-old Consuela Lozano Lopez, who weighed 12 pounds when she died March 28th.

The child's mother Tricia Lozano is charged with starving her and is awaiting a trial in February.

Meanwhile, a Polk County judge is expected to decide within days whether to keep Lopez behind bars until then for a crime he didn't commit.

Authorities say Lopez would have been deported months ago if they didn't need him to verify, under oath, the authenticity of a tape-recorded conversation he had with Lozano after their daughter died.

The toddler was the final survivor of a pair of twins born prematurely to Lozano and Lopez in 2003. The Polk County medical examiner ruled the child died of malnutrition.