Woman Charged in 3-Year Affair With Boy
A 28-year-old woman was charged Monday with child molestation for allegedly conducting a nearly three-year sexual relationship with a boy since he was 12, authorities said.
Arlene Diane Roybal of San Pedro was charged with three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, three counts of oral copulation with a person under the age of 16, one count of oral copulation with a person under the age of 14 and one count of a lewd act on a child under 14.
If convicted, she faces at least 16 years in prison, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.
Police began investigating a possible sexual relationship between Roybal and the boy in 1996, according to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office. But the investigation stalled when the boy, who had been placed in the care of the Department of Children’s Services, ran away.
The boy, now 15, was arrested last month in connection with a petty theft. His case was coincidentally assigned to the same detective who had previously investigated the boy and Roybal.
Roybal was arrested in San Pedro on Sept. 23. She is scheduled for arraignment today.
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