LAKEPORT — A judge Tuesday agreed to briefly postpone the trial-setting hearing for a former Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) deputy charged with more than a dozen counts of child sex abuse.
Derik D. Navarro, 39, was set to serve up to four months in county jail in exchange for admitting to one felony as part of a plea deal, which also called for formal probation and stipulated he would not have to register as a sex offender.
However, Judge Andrew S. Blum rejected the agreement on Jan. 9, calling the proposed sentence “ridiculously lenient.”
Navarro”s previous pleas of not guilty to all 16 felonies have been reinstated, and Blum has urged both parties to settle on a trial date as soon as possible.
The former deputy appeared before Blum Tuesday morning at the Lake County Courthouse for a trial-setting hearing, but defense counsel Mitchell Hauptman asked the judge to delay scheduling one or two weeks.
Hauptman said he needed time to contact witnesses and explore the possibility of filing an unspecified new motion.
Blum granted the request, rescheduling the hearing for Monday at 8:15 a.m.
Continuances have been a theme in the case since it originated almost five years ago, primarily because of attorney changes on both sides.
A trial was set to start Dec. 7, but Navarro, who denied wrongdoing since his April 2007 arrest, accepted a deal that day while county residents gathered to potentially sit on his jury.
He agreed to plead guilty to one count of unlawful intercourse with a person younger than 16, reportedly a female babysitter, for an alleged act between October 2005 and May 2006, according to court records.
The agreement, which Blum ultimately rejected, called for the dismissal of the remaining 15 felony charges for alleged sexual acts against the same girl.
Navarro worked for the LCSO for more than four years. His employment with the department reportedly ended one week before his arrest.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
