A 25-year-old La Habra man was sentenced Friday to 29 years to life in prison for abducting and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl as she walked to school in Brea.
Christian Moreno was found guilty in October of kidnapping to commit a sex offense, sexual battery and sexual penetration of a child over the age of 15 by foreign object and by force, all felonies.
The girl was walking to school about 7:45 a.m. on Jan. 9, 2017, when her attacker grabbed her from behind and groped her in the 1800 block of West Skywood Street, according to Brea police.
He dragged the victim up a driveway, pushed her up against a garage door and put his hands down her pants and pushed her top and bra off, Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Reed said in court papers. The victim managed to push him away and ran to school while her attacker ran to his car and drove away, Reed said.
Police received tips from the public after they released photos of the getaway vehicle, resulting in his arrest.
Moreno pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of lewd conduct in a public place on Jan. 13, 2015, after being caught masturbating in his car while staring at a woman entering a day care center with her child in La Habra, according to Reed.
Moreno was sentenced in that case to 10 days in jail, placed on three years of formal probation and ordered to participate in a sex offender program. As part of his plea deal, a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure was dropped.
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In 2015, Moreno also pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and sentenced to 16 months for grabbing a woman jogging on Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles. While she struggled with her attacker, a good Samaritan driving by got out of his car and chased Moreno with a baseball bat, according to Reed.
