Woman Pleads Not Guilty to Molestation

A San Bernardino County woman accused with her companion of taking snapshots of themselves as they molested a 4-year-old girl pleaded not guilty Friday to four felony child abuse counts.

Evelyn (Evie) Bacilio, 33, is charged with two counts of committing a forcible lewd act upon a child, oral copulation of a person under 14 and using a minor for a sex act.

Bacilio entered her pleas in San Bernardino Municipal Court and was returned to jail here in lieu of $2-million bail.

Bacilio worked with the girl’s mother and baby-sat the child while her parents were away from their Newport Beach home, authorities said. Police say the parents knew nothing about the molestation. Detectives say the girl has no recollection of being assaulted.

On Thursday, Bacilio’s co-defendant, Ron Ruskjer, 44, pleaded not guilty to two counts of oral copulation of a person under the age of 14, rape of an unconscious person and committing a forcible lewd act upon a child. Like Bacilio, Ruskjer remains jailed in lieu of $2-million bail.

Ruskjer and Bacilio kept separate residences in the Grand Terrace community of San Bernardino County. Ruskjer is a former instructor at Loma Linda University and Bacilio has been working as a secretary for a medical supply company in Ontario.

The case was opened two weeks ago after instant-camera photos of a couple abusing a toddler were found on a Los Angeles street. Police believe the photos were thrown from Ruskjer’s car by robbers who had stolen the vehicle.

Authorities distributed edited copies of the photos to the news media, and after the pictures were shown on television, police were deluged with calls identifying Ruskjer, Bacilio and the victim.

Bacilio was arrested Oct. 8 in Las Vegas as she tried to board a Chicago-bound plane. Ruskjer was arrested on the same day in Detroit as he got off a plane from Tokyo.