Coachella Man Charged With Child Molestation

COACHELLA – A 47-year-old man accused of molesting two female relatives at his Coachella home, starting when they were 5 and 11 years old, is to be arraigned Monday.

Miguel Magana faces one count of penetration by force, four counts of a lewd act with a child under 14 years old, and one count of felony contact with a minor with the intent to commit a felony.

The girls helped take care of Magana, who was an alcoholic and diabetic, according to sheriff’s Investigator Michael Gaunt.

He is accused of first molesting them in 1999, when they were 5 and 11 years old.

The allegations include him placing one of the girls on his lap and rubbing against her while giving her candy,

The younger girl, who is now 16, told investigators that when she was 5, Magana held her down on the living room floor and French kissed her, and that he used his hand to penetrate her, according to Gaunt.

She said that when she was in second grade, Magana forced her to touch him while he touched himself, and that when she was 13, he offered her $200 to let him perform sex acts on her, but she refused, according to the investigator.

The other relative, who is now 21, said Magana would expose himself and ask her to touch him, but she refused, and that he would also touch her inappropriately while she slept, according to the investigator.

Magana was arrested Wednesday on a felony warrant at his home in the 50200 block of Polk Street, where the offenses allegedly occurred, said Sgt. Anthony Baur of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.