A Santa Ana man has been convicted of molesting young girls he met through his Jehovah’s Witness congregation.
A Fullerton man was found guilty of molesting two underage girls he is related to.
A Costa Mesa Uber driver was arrested for allegedly raping a woman passenger in Santa Ana.
A Garden Grove bus driver has been charged with sexually assaulting his special needs passengers.
Santa Ana police detectives popped a Los Angeles man for allegedly trying to set up a sex date with a 13-year-old girl.
Two boys were taken into custody for a sexual assault in a Buena Park park.
Fullerton police are seeking a man who tried to lure a teenage girl into his pickup truck.
Whew!
Jose Luis Aguilera was found guilty Friday of four counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14 in the Jehovah’s Witness case. However, the 42-year-old was acquitted on a fifth count of the same, and the jury deadlocked on four more similar counts as well as a charge of kidnapping for child molestation. While Aguilera has a May 19 sentencing date, he could face more court time if prosecutors decide to re-file on the deadlocked count. He molested four girls, ages 8-12, between January 2012 and July 2015, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown. Aguilera was found out after one girl told her parents what he had done and they called the cops. The other victims were identified through the investigation. Aguilera’s public defender claims these are false accusations created by false memories.
Amador Estrada was convicted of molesting one of his two underage female relatives beginning when she was 7. The 48-year-old—who was found guilty Tuesday of three counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor younger than 14 and a sentencing enhancement allegation for multiple victims—could get 45 years to life in state prison at his scheduled May 12 sentencing. His crimes happened during sleepovers in Fullerton between Oct. 21, 2009, and June 19, 2012, and he was busted after the youngest girl told classmates at her elementary school. Estrada’s defense attorney claimed she lied because a friend at school, who was a sexual abuse victim, got gifts from her parents after her ordeal, and the accuser wanted gifts as well.
Angel Sanchez, 36, has been charged with a felony count of rape of intoxicated victim and faces up to eight years in state prison if he is convicted at trial, according to an Orange County District Attorney’s office statement about the Costa Mesa defendant’s scheduled arraignment today in Santa Ana.
On March 30, a woman was at a company gathering in Newport Beach, where her colleagues requested an Uber ride to get her home to Santa Ana because she had been drinking. Sanchez arrived in a 2016 gray Toyota Sienna with an Uber sticker on it and drove her to a street near her residence, where she was then sexually assaulted, according to prosecutors. The woman ran and immediately called 9-1-1 to report the alleged attack, which led to Sanchez’s arrest by Santa Ana police on April 1.
Jon Francis Farris, 57, was arrested Wednesday by Tustin police officers who investigated sexual abuse allegations involving victims with special needs. The Orange County District Attorney’s office, which subsequently charged the contract bus driver with the alleged sexual assaults of three women, reports the Garden Grove resident could get 11 years in state prison with a conviction. Farris, who worked for Western Transit Systems (WTS), was assigned a bus route transporting special needs clients of the Regional Center of Orange County. On March 23, he allegedly dropped off one client, parked the bus in a nearby neighborhood and sexually assaulted the other female riders. When the bus remained parked in the same spot for several minutes, a concerned resident approached the bus, saw what was happening inside and called WTS, which in turn notified the Tustin Police Department. Farris was still in Orange County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail as of Saturday night. But the investigation continues, and anyone with information regarding other possible victims is asked to contact Detective Nguyen at 714.573.3200, or 714.573.3372.
German Alonso Martinez, 29, was arrested on April 22 by Santa Ana cops for allegedly sending harmful matter to seduce a minor and communicating with a minor to commit lewd acts. A 13-year-old girl allowed to use Facebook by her parents received messages from Martinez, who first introduced himself and then graduated to highly inappropriate communications that solicited sex from the victim, according to the police, who add that the adult was well aware the victim was underage. Detectives used the girl’s cell phone to arrange a meeting at El Salvador Park in Santa Ana, where the Los Angeles resident drove to with the intent of taking the victim to a local motel and have sex with the underage victim, police say. But it was cops and not the girl who were waiting at the park for Martinez, who was still in OC Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail as of Saturday night. The Santa Ana Police Department asks that anyone who may have had a similar encounter with Martinez to call detectives at 714.245.8351.
Two male juveniles were taken into custody on April 22 after the Buena Park Police Department conducted an investigation of a reported sexual assault around 3 p.m. that day at George Bellis park at 7171 8th St. The names of the juveniles and more details about the incident were not released due to their ages. “This appears to have been an isolated incident,” police did say, “and there is no indication that there is any immediate danger to the public.”
A man believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s is being sought for trying to lure a 16-year-old girl into his pickup truck as she walked home from school on April 24. Around 1 p.m. Monday, the teen was walking south on Richman Avenue, just south of Valencia Avenue, when a stranger driving a tan 2003 Ford F-150 pickup pulled up alongside her. He stopped against oncoming traffic and yelled at the girl to “Get in the car.” The girl kept walking as the man followed her in his truck—until she pulled out her cell phone to call for help. That’s when the truck sped off. Police described the driver as having a shaved head, a beard with no mustache and a thin build. He was last seen wearing a long sleeved gray shirt. Anyone with information about the driver, the truck or similar incidents is asked to call police at 714.738.6762. Anonymous tips can be left with Orange County Crimestoppers at 855.847.6227.
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.