Riverside

Man Admits to Sexually Assaulting Child in Riverside Restaurant

He admitted to one count of forced oral copulation of a child under 10 years old

A former restaurant employee pleaded guilty on Monday to sexually assaulting a young girl in a bathroom stall at his workplace in Riverside.

Avimael Lopez, 35, admitted one count of forced oral copulation of a child under 10 years old. In exchange for his admission, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office agreed to drop a related charge of lewd acts on a minor.

Superior Court Judge David Gunn scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 5 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. The sentence that's stipulated under the plea deal is 15 years to life in state prison. Meanwhile, the defendant remains in custody at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside in lieu of $2 million bail.

The defendant was arrested last June after he was caught in the act of molesting the victim, identified in court documents only as Jane Doe.

According to Riverside police, the girl was with her mother at a fast-food establishment in the 1700 block of University Avenue, just off of Chicago Avenue, and went into the women's restroom alone in the early afternoon of June 6, 2016. When the girl failed to emerge after a few minutes, her mother went to check on her and encountered Lopez committing the assault in a stall, prompting the woman to call 911, police said.

Lopez has no documented prior felony convictions.

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