A Woodland man has been convicted of molesting the 6-year-old daughter of a couple with whom he was sharing a home.
After a four-day trial, a Yolo County jury deliberated a half-day before finding Efrain Amed Vasquez Martinez, 29, guilty Friday of four of six charges of child molestation that occurred in two separate incidents.
About 4 a.m. on April 24, one of Vasquez's housemates awoke to sounds in the home that raised suspicion, and she sent her husband to investigate. The husband opened the door to the children's bedroom, where he found a 4-year-old boy asleep and the 6-year-old girl pulling the covers over her, as Vasquez, wearing only his underwear, attempted to hide in the closet, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.
The husband called police and while they waited for officers to arrive, the girl told her mother that Vasquez had removed her underwear and molested her. She said he had committed a similar act once before, officials said.
Before the incident, Vasquez had been cutting meat in the kitchen and had cut his finger. Police found blood throughout the house and followed a trail that led to the children's bedroom. Blood was found on the bedroom floor and walls, inside the closet door, in the girl's bed and on her legs, officials said.
Because Vasquez went into the children's room with the intent to commit the act, the jury also found true an enhancement to the charge of a lewd and lascivious act for committing the crime in the course of a first-degree burglary, according to the news release. The jury also found Vasquez guilty of an additional count of a lewd and lascivious act upon a child under the age of 14 for the previous incident.
Vasquez is to be sentenced Jan. 18 by Judge Timothy Fall, who presided over the trial.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.