SIMI VALLEY : Man, 62, Convicted of Molesting 3 Girls

A 62-year-old Simi Valley man was convicted Thursday of molesting his stepdaughter and two other teen-agers several times between 1987 and 1990.

The man, who is not being identified to avoid identifying his stepdaughter, was initially charged in January, 1988, after the girl and her mother filed a complaint with Simi Valley police.

But the stepdaughter, who was 13 at the time of the 1988 preliminary hearing, said then that she did not recall any fondling. The suspect, however, was ordered to stand trial after Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary C. Peace put witnesses on the stand who testified about the girl’s earlier incriminating statements.

Before the trial could begin, however, the mother and stepdaughter moved to Mexico to avoid testifying, Peace said. The case was dismissed.

Last fall, after the girl had moved back to Ventura County, she called a suicide hot line from a friend’s home and said she was still being molested, Peace said. The friend’s mother overheard the call and alerted authorities. The girl again acknowledged that her stepfather was molesting her, and two of her friends, ages 15 and 16, also told authorities that the man had assaulted them, Peace said. The man was arrested again in October.

Once again, however, the stepdaughter and her mother refused to cooperate at the preliminary hearing or the trial, but the other girls testified, Peace said. After an eight-day trial and more than three days of deliberation, a nine-woman, three-man jury found the man guilty of six molestation counts, two relating to each of the girls. The stepdaughter was in tears when she arrived in the courtroom after the verdicts were read.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele allowed the man to remain free on $50,000 bail until his sentencing Aug. 21. But Steele ordered the man to move immediately from the house he has continued to share with the mother and stepdaughter.

The man could get a maximum term of 13 years and eight months in prison, Peace said.