5 Men Held on 150 Child Sex Charges

Five men were being held Friday on 150 charges of sexually molesting nine children, ages 2 to 11, in the summer of 1982, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Four of the suspects were arrested Thursday. A fifth man, Arthur Dill, 33, of Campbell, surrendered Friday to police in Santa Clara County for transport to Sacramento.

Officers said they believe Dill organized the alleged molestations.

Reached Thursday at the San Jose restaurant where he works, Dill told a reporter he had been instructed by his lawyer to make no comment on the charges.

“The continued and sustained sexual abuse of the nine children was accomplished through force and fear, with alleged threats made against the lives of the children involved,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Roger Dickson said. The alleged abuse includes intercourse, oral copulation and other sexual activities involving the men and the nine children.

Dickson said investigators began working on the case in June when a mother in Carmichael reported “a variety of sex acts” involving her children and one of the men in the Sacramento suburb during 1982.

Arrested were Rolando Cuevas, 36, of Citrus Heights; Alan Arbuckle, 29, of Sacramento; Veryl Baker, 59, of Citrus Heights, and John Holman, 36, Dill’s current roommate, Dickson said. Holman was arrested by Campbell police in Santa Clara County.

Dickson said Cuevas, Arbuckle and Baker were being held on $500,000 bail each at Sacramento County Jail, and that Holman would be brought there also.