Ventura County Sheriff s Office
Leonard Herrera Lopez, 49, of Fillmore
VENTURA, Calif. - A former Ventura County Sheriff s Deputy pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges for sexual misconduct with an inmate while working as a guard at the Ventura County Jail.
Leonard Herrera Lopez, 49, of Fillmore pleaded no contest to the misdemeanors charges in court Thursday. The charges stem from what the Ventura County District Attorney s Office referred to as consensual sexual activity with an inmate at the jail.
Lopez was arrested in 2019 following a month-long investigation after the female inmate accused him of sexual assault. Lopez was later charged with engaging in consensual sexual activity with a female inmate and entering her cell without another employee present, the DA s office said.
Francisco Mejia, 65, of Oxnard
VENTURA, Calif. – An Oxnard man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of child molestation.
In April, Francisco Mejia, 65, of Oxnard pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child molestation including forcible oral copulation on a child, sexual penetration on a child, and forcible lewd act on a child.
Mejia pleaded guilty to molesting two family members over the course of several years. A third victim who the Ventura County District Attorney s Office identified as a family friend, was molested while attending his wife s daycare in 2017.
The Oxnard Police Department investigated the incident.
Oxnard man sentenced 30 years for child molestation
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A 64-year-old Oxnard man was sentenced to 30 years in state prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges of child molestation, the Ventura County District Attorney s Office said Tuesday.
The suspect, identified as Francisco Mejia, pleaded guilty on April 1, 2020, to five counts of felony child sex crimes.
According to investigators, two of the victims were family members of Mejia who were abused over the course of several years. The third victim was the child of a family friend who was molested by Mejia in 2017 while she attended a daycare overseen by his wife, authorities said.
Ventura County Family Justice Center
VENTURA, Calif. The Ventura County Family Justice Service Center is expanding to help victims of hate crimes.
The center has assisted over 4,000 victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse and human trafficking, according to the Ventura County District Attorney s Office.
The center will now also provide victims of hate crimes with one-stop access to victim advocacy, assistance with obtaining restraining orders, civil legal services, counseling, emergency financial assistance, emergency housing and many other services provided on-site by staff from 15 different Ventura County agencies and community-based nonprofits.
The Ventura County District Attorney s Office said a hate crime is defined as a crime which anyone who by force or threat, willfully injures, intimidates, interferes with, oppresses, or threatens another person.