MURRIETAÂ – A 27-year-old man who sexually assaulted a Lake Elsinore girl pleaded guilty today to lewd acts on a child.
Gerardo Villagran of Lake Elsinore admitted the felony count under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors agreed to drop four related charges.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Freer scheduled a sentencing hearing for Dec. 16 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta and ordered the defendant to be held without bail at the nearby Byrd Detention Center. He was being held in lieu of $2 million bail.
The proposed sentence was not specified.
Villagran was arrested in May following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation that was initiated after the victim, identified in court documents only as “Jane Doe,” came forward.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Julio Olguin, the molestation occurred at a house in the 200 block of Heald Avenue, near Ellis Street, over an unspecified period.
The relationship between Villagran and the girl, if any, was not disclosed, nor were the specific circumstances behind the alleged acts.
Olguin said that following interviews with the victim, a search warrant was obtained and served at the assailant’s house on Joy Street.
Villagran allegedly fled out a back door when deputies approached, but he was apprehended moments later without incident, according to the sergeant.
The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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