A 58-year-old man who repeatedly sexually assaulted a young relative in Temecula was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years to life in state prison.
Jose Benito Fabian was convicted in December of four counts of lewd acts on a child under 10 years old.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Molloy imposed the sentence required by law for the offenses.
According to the District Attorney's Office, Fabian molested the girl when she visited him and his wife at their residence near Old Town between January 2014 and April 2017.
Deputy District Attorney Ed Jensen said the assaults began with the defendant groping the girl's privates and instructing her to reciprocate on him. After the touching, Fabian took the victim to a bedroom and took off her clothes, then tried to have sex with her, but stopped when she cried out in pain, according to court papers filed by Jensen, who said Fabian also orally copulated the girl and compelled her to kiss him open-mouth, both of which made the child ill.
When she was 8 years old, the girl revealed to her family what had occurred, and her parents immediately contacted sheriff's deputies.
In the ensuing investigation, another of Fabian's relatives also alleged that she had been groped and forced to touch the defendant intimately when she was a young child, but the woman later recanted her statements, according to the prosecution.
News
Top news of the day
Fabian, who was arrested on April 28, 2017, had no documented prior felony convictions.
