Local News in Brief : Ex-Nursing Home Aide Convicted in Sex Case
A former aide at a Sylmar nursing home was convicted Monday in San Fernando Superior Court of sexually molesting two cerebral palsy victims.
Tony Ray Lopez, 35, was found guilty of one count each of sodomy, sexual battery and sexual penetration by a foreign object.
Three similar counts were dismissed by Judge John H. Major, who heard the case without a jury.
Lopez faces up to 20 years in state prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Davis-Springer, who prosecuted the case. Major set Jan. 6 for sentencing.
Free on $5,000 bail since his arrest, Lopez was taken into custody after the verdict.
One of the complainants, a 26-year-old man on crutches, testified that Lopez forced him to perform sex acts at the Spastic Children’s Foundation home, where the victim was living.
A 25-year-old man confined to a wheelchair testified that he met Lopez while living at the Sylmar facility but was not assaulted until after he hired Lopez to care for him at a Sylmar group home for cerebral palsy victims.
Lopez, on the stand, denied all the charges.
He said Lopez will appeal the verdict.
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