People v. Viramontes CA2/5

FACTS

Cassidy R. was born in 1995 and was 18 years old at the time of trial. When Cassidy was about five to eight years old, she lived with her aunt Karen R. in Malibu Canyon. Karen’s boyfriend, defendant, lived at the Malibu house with Cassidy, Karen, and her children from September 2000 to November 2001. Defendant never disclosed his prior sexual abuse issues to Karen, and she never witnessed any inappropriate behavior.

2 Karen worked two jobs and often left Cassidy alone with defendant, who was responsible for putting the children to bed at night. Defendant touched Cassidy inappropriately on more than two occasions. Cassidy became afraid defendant would touch her again when she was about to fall asleep at night. Cassidy remembered the details of only two incidents because they were the worst. On one occasion, defendant laid down next to Cassidy as she was falling asleep on a couch in the living room. Defendant pulled up her T-shirt and touched her chest. He then pulled down her underwear and rubbed his penis on her vagina and butt. Defendant told Cassidy to rub his chest, waist, and legs. Cassidy did as defendant directed her. He placed his hands on her face and grabbed her…