Father charged in death of baby to be arraigned, violent rap sheet revealed

MISSION, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A father charged in connection to the death of his 3-month-old boy will be arraigned Monday afternoon.

Ricardo Adrian Mata, 34, is charged with injury to a child causing death, a second-degree felony, after his infant was found dead in a locked car on Saturday. Mata was arrested after the child was pronounced dead.

He was located at the 3200 block of John Mark Court in rural Mission. Authorities interviewed him at the location and learned that Mata left the child in the back seat of his car and then went inside to lie down. He also told authorities that he had been drinking and forgot that his infant was in the car.

A search of Mata on Hidalgo County Jail Records revealed an extensive violent rap sheet. Mata has been arrested multiple times between 2007 and Sunday. He also has a pending murder charge out of Hidalgo County in connection to the 2021 murder of Leonardo Veliz, who died at the age of 22.

Mata was arrested for his involvement in the death and the attempted murder of a second man. He is scheduled for a status hearing in this case on July 21.

The father of the deceased infant remains jailed and is scheduled to be arraigned for the death of his child at 2 p.m. Monday.

Investigators have requested an autopsy to determine the cause of death for the child.