A probationer who repeatedly peered into a San Jacinto home to watch a girl get dressed for school was sentenced Monday to a year in jail.
A Riverside jury last week convicted 46-year-old Ramon Rojas of three counts of misdemeanor peeping. The verdict came following a day and a half of testimony.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Thomas Glasser imposed the maximum incarceration allowed by law. However, it's unlikely Rojas will serve even half of his time behind bars because of overcrowded conditions in the county's five correctional facilities.
According to court papers, the defendant was twice recorded by a home security surveillance system, looking through a window to a residence in the 300 block of Hazeldell Avenue. The first occasion was on April 27, and the second on May 2, Deputy District Attorney Sam Taloa wrote in a trial brief.
The prosecutor said the property owner determined that the peeping tom was watching her young daughter prepare for school just before sunrise, prompting the woman to call the sheriff's department.
A deputy was assigned to stake out the location in an attempt to catch the prowler in the act, and in the early morning hours of May 3, Rojas returned and watched the child again, at which point he was promptly arrested.
Court records show that Rojas has a prior misdemeanor conviction for peeping tom activity that occurred in June 2014. That case involved him peering through the window of a ground floor apartment on Rosalia Avenue in Hemet, where he watched several teenage girls until a neighbor spotted him and called 911.
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He was arrested without incident while trying to walk away from the location after deputies arrived.
