Crime & Safety

Man Convicted of Molesting Two Girls

The Lake Forest resident was found guilty of assaulting youngsters in Aliso Viejo and Laguna Woods.

Story written by City News Service, then posted by Roy Rivenburg.

A Lake Forest man was convicted Wednesday of molesting 6- and 7-year-old girls on separate occasions in Laguna Woods and Aliso Viejo.

Jurors deliberated for about 2 1/2 hours before finding German Bravo DeJesus, 34, guilty of three felony counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14.

DeJesus, who is scheduled to be sentenced June 28, faces 15 to 45 years to life in prison. One of the defendant's victims -- who is 12 years old now -- testified that when she accompanied a family member to visit another relative at Palm Terrace Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Laguna Woods, where DeJesus worked at the time, he came into a play room and molested her.

The victim, then 7, testified she was playing with her 4-year-old cousin in the play room on Jan. 17, 2009, while her grandmother and uncle visited her great-grandfather, who was recuperating at Palm Terrace after undergoing surgery.

A man with a tattoo on his arm and wearing a green "uniform" shirt came in and began talking to her, she said. The girl testified he "touched" her "in my private parts" a few times.

"I think it was more (than once)," she testified. "Three or two times."

Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors the girl did not tell her grandmother or uncle what happened while she was in the play room. But as soon as she got home, she told her mother. The uncle brought the girl back to the center that same day "to figure out who did it," and the only person who matched the description was DeJesus, but investigators did not have enough evidence to proceed with a case against him at the time, Walker said.

The other victim was a 6-year-old girl who went to Grand Park in Aliso Viejo on July 8, 2011, with her family to watch a movie, Walker said. DeJesus worked at a nearby car wash at the time, the prosecutor said. The girl was playing with her cousin at the park when DeJesus approached, "asked her name, told her she was pretty and put his hands down her pants," Walker told the jury.

The girl told her father, who chased after DeJesus while on the line with a 911 operator, Walker said. An Orange County sheriff's deputy arrested DeJesus a short time later as he was riding his bicycle away from the park, and the girl identified him as the man who molested her, Walker said.

DeJesus made incriminating statements to investigators when they used a "ruse," saying they had surveillance video of him in the park and DNA evidence, Walker said. DeJesus said he was celebrating his birthday that day at the park, drinking a couple of beers with friends, Walker said. He told the investigator he was sorry and asked the detective to tell the girl he wouldn't do it again, she said.

The Palm Terrace case was reopened following DeJesus' arrest for the Grand Park incident, Walker said. DeJesus' attorney, Shannon Winston of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, contended someone else at Palm Terrace molested the older victim.

Winston said there were discrepancies in what the girl told authorities and she could not pick DeJesus out in a lineup. She also argued the description of the man who molested the girl in Grand Park did not match DeJesus.   


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