A case that began with Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies responding to a report of domestic violence resulted in a Canyon Country man receiving a 35-year sentence in state prison and lifetime registry as a sex offender, a prosecutor confirmed Wednesday.
A restitution hearing scheduled Tuesday for Humberto Guzman Lemus, a 41-year-old Canyon Country man, was continued until February, according to a spokesman from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors are still gathering information on the amount of restitution that will be sought by the state in the case, which is why the hearing was scheduled for next year, according to Myle Phan, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case.
Lemus pleaded no contest to four charges on Oct. 11, continuous sexual abuse of a child, resisting arrest, oral copulation of a child under 14 years old and lewd and lascivious acts against a child by a caretaker.
Three other sex crime allegations against Lemus were dropped at his Nov. 2 sentencing, in accordance with the terms of his plea, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records available online.
While responding to a domestic violence call in the 27000 block of Fahren Court on Dec. 8, 2020, deputies contacted a young girl who reported Lemus had been sexually assaulting her on an ongoing basis, according to a previous statement by Sgt. Brian Hudson, who supervised the investigation for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Unit.
The abuse reportedly started in 2013, according to court records.
During deputies’ response to the initial incident, Lemus attempted to run from law enforcement officials, which resulted in a search of the area and his subsequent arrest in 2020, according to Sheriff’s Station Lt. James Royal, in a previous report in The Signal.
