3 Molest Suspects May Be Tied to Child-Killing Movie

A judge has ordered three child-molesting suspects held in jail over the weekend at high bail after a prosecutor’s claim that they may have been linked to a movie depicting killings of children.

The three men, all current or former employees of a restaurant in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights, were arraigned in Sacramento Municipal Court on Friday.

Two other men linked to the case are being detained by Santa Clara County authorities.

“Pending homicide investigation and evidence will show that the ring of child molesters were involved in making a snuff movie with the killing of children,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Rick Lewkowitz said during the court proceeding.

He declined to elaborate afterward.

After hearing Lewkowitz argue that the suspects had reason to flee because the “degree of abuse and trauma inflicted on the victims was very high and very extensive,” Municipal Judge John V. Stroud continued bail at $500,000 each.

Sheriff’s deputies said that the arrests followed complaints by a woman from Carmichael, another community in the Sacramento area, that her former husband had molested several children. Her complaint was made seven months ago.

An FBI spokeswoman said that a report of a child killing-movie had been under investigation by the federal agency before the arrests, and added that there was a problem of children being unable to distinguish between films and reality.

The suspects held in Sacramento are Ronaldo Cuevas, 36, Alan Arbukle, 29, and Veryl Baker, 59.

The Sacramento Bee said Baker and Arbuckle are waiters at a restaurant in Citrus Heights, and that Cuevas formerly worked there as a bartender.

The suspects taken into custody in the San Jose area are:

--Arthur Dill, employee of a San Jose hotel, who surrendered voluntarily to police. Dill told reporters that his attorney had advised him not to comment on the charges. He formerly managed the Citrus Heights restaurant where the three suspects held in Sacramento were employed.

--John Paul Holman, 36, who was picked up Thursday by police in Campbell, near San Jose.