OXNARD : D. A. Drops Battery Charge Against Man

Ventura County prosecutors agreed to drop a sexual battery charge against an 85-year-old Oxnard man because the 20-year-old alleged victim had a “serious” credibility problem, a top district attorney’s official said Monday.

The Ventura woman had told police and district attorney’s investigators that Victor Melilli fondled her Jan. 28 as she was working as a live-in helper in the man’s home.

Based on her statements and police interviews with Melilli, prosecutors filed a single count of sexual battery against the man. But Melilli’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Shirley D. Lorenz, asked the district attorney’s office to drop the charge.

“They finally did the right thing,” Lorenz said Monday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth said an ongoing Ventura police investigation surrounding allegations that the woman has stolen thousands of dollars from another senior citizen raises doubts about the woman’s believability. Another elderly person had filed a complaint against the woman with the county’s adult protective services office, officials said.

“I am not saying that this man did not touch this woman in a sexual nature,” Henke-Dobroth said. But she said it is hard to convict a defendant when the victim’s credibility is in question.

Henke-Dobroth also said prosecutors initiated an investigation into the woman’s background on their own.

But Lorenz had said she brought it to prosecutors’ attention. Lorenz, who had accused prosecutors of not thoroughly checking out the victim’s background, stuck by her version of the story Monday.

“It is not a true and accurate depiction that we file charges and sit on our duffs until the public defender’s office say, ‘Look at what we found?’ ” Henke-Dobroth said. But she added that prosecutors have “a good working relationship with . . . the public defender’s office.”