A Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station official confirmed a man was arrested after a female teen reported a sexual assault Monday in the bed of the Santa Clara River in Canyon Country.
The incident was now under investigation by the Special Victims Bureau of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, according to an email Monday from Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
Sgt. Joseph Mesa, who leads the Special Victims Unit, said the investigation “is ongoing and in the early stages,” in an email Tuesday afternoon, adding detectives did not believe there was any danger to the community.
Deputies arrested George Valle, 35, on suspicion of violating section 261(a)1 of the California Penal Code, which covers sexual assault: “If a person is at the time incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent, and this is known or reasonably should be known to the person committing the act.”
Mesa was not immediately available to answer questions regarding whether the suspect and the victim knew each other prior to the allegation.
“Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station deputies responded to a sexual assault call for service at Soledad Canyon Road, with a cross street of Camp Plenty Road, and located the suspect and victim,” Mesa wrote in his email. “The suspect was taken into custody without incident.”
A station official said the initial information indicates the assault happened Monday, the morning it was reported.
Valle, who did not have an occupation listed, was previously arrested by station officials Oct. 31 on a petty-theft charge and released the following day.
He’s still in custody as of this story’s publication in lieu of $265,000 bail.
LASD records indicate Valle has a court date Wednesday at the San Fernando Courthouse.
