In re A.T. CA2/1

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

When Sarah P. was age 15, she revealed to adults for the first time that she had been sexually molested by A.T. when she was a young child and A.T. was a minor. Based on Sarah’s statements to a sheriff’s detective A.T., now an adult, was interviewed, arrested and tried in juvenile court for committing lewd and lascivious acts against Sarah when she was four or five years old. Two witnesses testified at the adjudication hearing: Sarah and Detective Maribel Rizo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Sarah testified that when she was between four and five years of age she was sexually abused by A.T. who lived in the neighborhood and was a friend of her brother. A.T.’s abuse consisted of pulling down her pants and underwear as she lay on his bed and licking her buttocks and genitals. This happened on three or four separate occasions. On cross-examination Sarah admitted she could not remember exactly when this molestation occurred and that it could have been when she was age three. Detective Rizo testified that in July 2011 she and her partner interviewed A.T. at his job site. Rizo told A.T. that he was not under arrest “and he was free to enter…