Molest Case Arrest Made

A former elder at churches in Fillmore and Moorpark has been arrested on suspicion of committing lewd acts with children, authorities said Wednesday.

Antonio De Alejandro, 46, who moved near Pueblo, Colo., earlier this year, was the subject of a three-month investigation, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Two women who attend a Moorpark church approached the department in February, on the advice of church officials, with accusations that De Alejandro had molested them when they were teenagers. De Alejandro, a clerk in a Santa Paula accounting office, had been an elder at the church, which detectives declined to identify. Previously, he was an elder at a Fillmore church, authorities said.

After church leaders learned of the women’s accusations, they removed De Alejandro from his position, and he moved to Colorado.

A Sheriff’s Department investigation uncovered two additional accusers, who were between 14 and 17 at the time of their alleged abuse. Authorities believe De Alejandro was involved in numerous, long-term molestations of children under the age of 16 from 1996 to 2004.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office filed 20 felony counts against De Alejandro this month for crimes against children. An arrest warrant was issued, and De Alejandro was picked up May 3 at a mobile home he was renting in Pueblo West.

De Alejandro didn’t fight extradition, and sheriff’s detectives flew to Colorado on Saturday to return him to Ventura County. He is being held in the county jail in lieu of $600,000 bail and is to be arraigned June 5.

Officials ask that anyone with additional information about the case contact Sheriff’s Det. Ryan Clark at (805) 477-7042.