A Santa Ana church leader was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting three girls he met through his church, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Carlos Ramirez Valdez, 61, of Riverside, was found guilty in August of 11 felony counts of lewd acts with a child under 14 and three felony counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child under 10, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Valdez was a leader at Iglesia de Dios Ebenezer Church in Santa Ana when the assaults occurred. He later became the pastor of another church in Santa Ana. The assaults occurred between 2012 and 2019.
According to the prosecution, one of the victims, between the ages of 4 and 10, was lured into Valdez’s truck, parked in the church parking lot or basement, where he repeatedly assaulted her for seven years. The girl later reported the abuse to a school counselor.
In January 2020, another girl, then 9 years old, told Garden Grove police that Valdez had sexually assaulted her in 2014 and 2015 after driving her home from church.
Another girl told Riverside police that Valdez had repeatedly assaulted her in a backyard shed in 2017, when she was 7 and 8 years old.
“Churches should be safe sanctuaries, not hunting grounds for child abusers,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “These young women were subjected to unimaginable abuse by someone in a position of trust.”
Source: NBC Los Angeles
Be First to Comment