People v. Fuentes CA1/5

I. BACKGROUND

Appellant and his wife Maria were married in 1991 and have three children together: Jane Doe 2 (JD2), born in 1992, Jane Doe 1 (JD1), born in 2002, and a son E., who was born in 2007. Appellant also has two sons from a previous marriage. In 2015, JD2 moved out of the house to live with her future husband and eventually had a child. In 2017, Maria got into a car accident while JD2 was a passenger and appellant, blaming Maria for the accident, stopped giving her money for household expenses. This led to marital discord and in January 2018, Maria took JD1 and E. and moved out of appellant’s home and in with JD2 and her family. Shortly afterwards, JD1 broke down at school and disclosed to a counselor that appellant had been sexually abusing her for many years. The counselor, a mandated reporter, referred the case to Child Protective Services and contacted the school’s resource officer, Kern County Sheriff’s Deputy Diego Barajas. Deputy Barajas contacted an investigator with the Department, Senior Deputy Steve Vasquez, who interviewed JD1 and Maria.

Further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. 2 JD2 was separately interviewed that…