The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office declined to charge a 68-year-old man arrested Saturday after he tried to evict a 26-year-old and her daughter, several weeks after the woman filed a sexual assault report against the man for allegations involving her young daughter, according to officials.
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies responded June 29 for what was initially reported as “a landlord-tenant issue” in a home on Fourl Road in Newhall, according to Sgt. Joseph Mesa of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Unit.
Both the suspect and the victims lived at the home, Mesa said.
The family reported that the suspect molested the daughter and then committed sexual battery against the mother, according to a report that was initiated June 5, Mesa said.
“I believe that the suspect was attempting to have them leave the residence, and our deputies found out he was a named suspect in the reports, and they ended up making the arrest,” Mesa said.
He said the case was presented to the DA’s office for consideration of charges the day after the arrest.
There were two charges presented for consideration: sexual battery and lewd and lascivious acts against a minor.
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department custody records available online indicate the man was arrested the night of the incident and released at 2:47 p.m. Wednesday, with the description listed as 849(B)(1), which means there was a finding of insufficient grounds for the filing of a criminal complaint.
The DA’s office released the “Charge Evaluation Worksheet” for a prosecutor’s review of the case, which indicated the case was not filed for that reason, and shared a slightly different version of what happened, based on the report from Special Victims Unit investigators.
The redacted comments from the DA’s form indicate: “(The suspect) rented his garage to a family including (alleged child victim) and her mother (alleged 26-year-old victim). Mom was aware of her daughter’s allegations but only reported when D asked the family to move out,” according to the document released Friday by the DA’s Office. “(The alleged victims) say (the suspect) grabbed their breasts on several occasions. (Redacted sentence) (The suspect) was arrested when he called police to have the family removed.”