A 20-year-old Anaheim man turned himself in today to Orange Police seeking him for allegedly sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl and threatening to kill her 15-year-old sister. Ernesto Parraguirre, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail, is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Santa Ana.
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He is charged with one felony count each of sexual penetration of
a child 10 years or younger, lewd acts on a child under 14, criminal
threats, and a sentencing enhancement allegation for committing a
sexual offense in the commission of a residential burglary. Parraguirre faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison if
convicted on all counts.
According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office and the Orange Police
Department, the 20-year-old broke into an Orange home around 5 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2009, by removing a screen and climbing
through a bedroom window. He allegedly entered a bedroom where the girls he did not know were sleeping, while their parents slept in another bedroom.
Parraguirre is accused of getting into
the bed with the 9-year-old and sexually assaulting her. She awoke and began to cry, waking her sister. The suspect allegedly threatened to kill the older girl if she said anything. He then fled the home, according to authorities.
On
Sept. 25, 2009, the law enforcement agencies released a press release seeking the
public's help in locating Parraguirre, who was believed to have fled to Mexico. As they did at that time, the agencies today encouraged anyone who believes they were victimized by the suspect to contact Orange Police Detective Jeremy Smith at (714) 744-7444 or Supervising District Attorney Investigator Randy Litwin at (714) 347-8794.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.