Coachella Valley man convicted of molesting girl for years

A 36-year-old Thermal man who repeatedly sexually molested a young girl over a period of years was convicted today of nearly a dozen felony charges.   

A Riverside jury deliberated just over a day before finding Alfonso Gonzalez Meraz guilty of four counts each of forcible lewd acts on a child and sexual assault of a minor under 10 years old, as well as two counts of oral copulation under force or duress and one count of kidnapping to commit rape.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Sam Shouka scheduled a sentencing hearing for Jan. 10 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.    The defendant is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.

According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office, the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, was targeted by Meraz from 2009 to 2015.   

The victim divulged to her mother what had transpired, and the woman reported it to sheriff's deputies, but the investigation dragged on another four years before sufficient evidence could be gathered to justify a criminal complaint, the brief said.

Court papers said the girl was "sexually touched and raped by the defendant from when she was 6 until she was 11.''   

"The victim said it happened too many times to count,'' the brief stated.   

In a final effort to elicit some acknowledgement from the defendant, a pretext phone call was set up in September 2019, during which the victim called Meraz and discussed what he had done to her as a child. The brief said the recorded conversation led to the defendant making "adoptive admissions," which provided sufficient basis to arrest him.   

When detectives asked him directly about the victim's allegations, he told them, "she is a good girl and is not a liar, nor does she exaggerate,'' according to court papers.  

The defendant had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.