Lemon Grove
A former worker at a board-and-care home told a jury that he did not sexually assault two retarded men there.
Roberto Gaxiola, 40, of San Diego testified Thursday that he was not working at the Mt. Vernon Group Home in Lemon Grove in January or February, when one man said Gaxiola sodomized him in a staff room.
“I was not there,” said Gaxiola, who said he was working elsewhere at the time.
Gaxiola said he did not get along with the 30-year-old retarded man, who was the trial’s first witness Wednesday.
Gaxiola is charged with committing unlawful oral copulation and sodomy on the two men, who lack the mental capacity to give legal consent for sex. Both victims had trouble establishing the date of the alleged activities.
Gaxiola also denied committing oral copulation on the other man, who testified Thursday.
Gaxiola was suspended from his duties July 29 and arrested Aug. 6 and charged with six felony counts. He remains in County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
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