LAKE COUNTY — The Lake County District Attorney”s Office gave a status report on Friday, on a case alleging child molestation perpetrated by a former Lake County Sheriff”s deputy.
Former Lake County deputy sheriff Derik Navarro, 35, will appear in court Monday for arraignment and the possible setting of a jury trial.
Navarro faces 18 felony counts and two misdemeanor counts related to sex acts with minors.
His April 18 arrest followed a nearly three-month long criminal investigation by the District Attorney”s Office.
His employment with the LCSO ended April 11.
The complaint filed with the Lake County Superior Court charges Navarro with nine felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor under 16, six felony counts of oral copulation with a minor under 16, two misdemeanor counts of annoying and/or molesting a minor under 18, and one felony count each of lewd and lascivious acts on a 14-year-old, sodomy with a minor under 16, and exhibiting harmful matter to a minor with the intent to arouse sexual desire.
Deputy district attorney John DeChaine said Friday that Navarro was held to answer for all 20 charges at a preliminary hearing on October 12.
“Of course, at this stage Derik Navarro is entitled to a presumption of innocence, and that presumption will stand until such time as a jury determines otherwise,” DeChaine said.District attorney Jon Hopkins wrote in a press release that Navarro allegedly committed 18 felony charges against one girl, starting when she was 14 in May of 2005 and continuing through May of 2006, after she had turned 15.
Two misdemeanor charges stem from acts Navarro allegedly perpetrated against a second female juvenile, according to the report.
Navarro was booked into the Lake County Jail April 18 and was released the same day after posting $20,000 bail.
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