Huntington Beach police extradited a Las Vegas man back to Orange County to face 20 counts of sexually assaulting girls for more than twenty years. Martin Rodgriquez Garcia, 49, a former resident of Huntington Beach is accused of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a minor, sexual intercourse or sodomy with a child under the age of 10, aggravated sexual assault of a child with a foreign object, aggravated sexual assault of a child and other related crimes against children in Orange County Superior Court.

Huntington Beach investigators believe the alleged assaults occurred as early as 1990 and as late as 2011 with victims between the ages of 5 and 15 years old. Garcia, a former construction worker was identified by an alleged victim who came forward in 2015. During a subsequent investigation, other alleged victims have also come forward and Huntington Beach authorities believe there may be more.

PENAL CODE §288(a), LEWD ACT WITH A CHILD occurs when an individual touches the intimate part of a child under the age of 14 for sexual purposes. What is important to remember about lewd acts with a child is that the touching does not have to be skin-to-skin, meaning the touching could be over the child's clothing. The punishment for a conviction of Penal Code Section 288(a) includes lifetime registration as a sexual predator and up to 8 years. In addition, if the defendant used force, fear or threats and if there are multiple victims, then a defendant could face life in prison.

PENAL CODE §289(a)(1) SEXUAL PENETRATION BY FORCE occurs when an individual penetrates the genital or anal opening of a child under 14, however slight, or causes the child to penetrate the genital or anal opening of a defendant, however, slight for the purposes of sexual arousal or gratification. The penetration can be with a sexual organ or a foreign object. If convicted of PC 289(a)(1), an individual faces up to 8 years in prison. If the penetration was committed by force, fear or violence, the prison exposure is up to 12 years.

One of the key things to remember about sexual assault crimes is that typically there are never any witnesses other than the perpetrator and victim. Thus, law enforcement officers will use different tactics to attempt to illicit statements from a sexual assault suspect to corroborate the victim. These tactics include placing recorded phone calls to a suspect from an alleged victim trying to get the suspect to make admissions of the aggravated sexual assault over the phone. Detectives may even resort to the use of text messages, email, social media or any other means of communication to get the suspect to make admissions or corroborate the reported sex crime. So, receiving communication from an alleged victim who wants to talk about the sexual contact is a telltale sign of a law enforcement investigation.

If you have been contacted by law enforcement regarding an investigation of a child sexual assault, you need an experienced Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney. At Pilchman & Kay, PLC all of our attorneys have both prosecuted individuals for committing sex offenses and defending individuals accused of committing sex crimes in Orange County. Our Irvine office is centrally located to provide a free consultation for anyone who is accused of sex crimes against children.