MURRIETA (CNS) – A 51-year-old man accused of molesting two Lake
Elsinore girls was charged yesterday with lewd acts on a child and other offenses.
Victor Saragusa Morones of Temecula was arrested Thursday following a
roughly two-month-long Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.
Along with four counts of lewd acts on a minor under 14 years old,
Morones is charged with multiple sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting
two or more victims in a sex crime.
He pleaded not guilty during an arraignment before Superior Court
Judge Elaine Kiefer, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Feb. 24
at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta and ordered that the defendant be
held in lieu of $4 million bail at the nearby Southwest Detention Center.
Morones was previously being held on $500,000 bail, but prosecutors
requested the bond adjustment based on the nature of the case.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Reese, deputies initiated an
investigation in November after receiving information that Morones had
allegedly engaged in illicit acts involving one of the girls, identified in
court documents only as “A.A.”
Court papers indicated that in the ensuing investigation, another
girl, “E.M.,” was also identified as an alleged victim.
The alleged assaults occurred between January 2019 and December 2021,
according to the criminal complaint.
Sufficient evidence was ultimately gathered to justify an arrest
warrant for Morones, who was taken into custody without incident in the 28000
block of Old Town Front Street in Temecula on Thursday morning, Reese said.
The circumstances behind the alleged assaults, including Morones’
relationship, if any, to the children were not disclosed.
He has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in
Riverside County. Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.
