A preliminary hearing begins today for a former local martial arts instructor charged with sex crimes against children.
Dante Villanueva Lusica, 70, of Canyon Country, is charged with two counts of sexual intercourse or sodomy with a child 10 years old or younger and one count each of continuous sexual abuse and oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years or younger, Greg Risling, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
“He pleaded not guilty in April and his preliminary hearing is set for Monday in Dept. 32 in downtown LA,” Risling said.
Lusica, a former martial arts instructor who lives in Canyon Country and who lived in Newhall for a while, was arrested Apr. 6 on suspicion of having committed a felony, by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Metro Detail.
The accused man was detained and placed in custody at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility on Bauchet Street in Los Angeles, with bail set at $2.16 million.
On Monday, he is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing.
During that hearing, prosecutors are expected to present evidence in the case, and the defense can respond, after which the judge will decide if the case should go to trial.
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