ARLETA : Retarded Girl’s Attacker Sentenced

An Arleta man was sentenced Wednesday in Van Nuys Superior Court to three years in prison for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old mentally retarded girl in November.

Claro Antonio Novoa, 40, was convicted Friday by Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz in a non-jury trial of child molestation and sodomy. He was acquitted of two other sexual molestation charges.

Novoa was arrested in November after the girl’s stepmother, who was giving police officers a report on the girl because she had been missing for several hours, saw Novoa drive by her house with the girl sitting in the passenger seat of his car. The officers chased and arrested him.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Talis Haight, who asked for the maximum sentence of 10 years, said Novoa molested the girl in his home after the girl--who has the mental ability of a 5-year-old--wandered away from her home and encountered Novoa, who offered her a ride home.