Alleged Internet Sexual Predator Facing Charges Involving 14 Y/O Girl

Thursday November 14, 2024

     Updated--A 29-year-old Santa Barbara County man has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually abusing a 14-year-old Fillmore girl who the authorities say met him through a social media page.

     On Tuesday the Ventura County Sheriff's Office received a call that the girl had failed to show up for school in Fillmore.

     Using the cell phone locator app the school resource officer was able to locate her phone at a motel in Camarillo.

     Deputies in Camarillo were immediately notified and went to the motel.

     A check of video surveillance confirmed she had been there with the older man.

     Then deputies discovered she and the man were still there in a vehicle in the parking lot.

     The girl was rescued and the man, 29-year-old Salvador Heredia Sanchez of Lompoc, was taken into custody.

     Thursday Sanchez entered not guilty pleas to Unlawful Sexual Intercourse, Lewd Act Upon a Child (two counts), Luring, and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.

     He also denied several special allegations.

     The authorities say that after Sanchez had met the girl Online they spent two weeks communicating with each other before she agreed to meet with him.

     They say Sanchez allegedly used what are called "grooming" techniques aimed at getting her to willingly go with him to the motel.

     She is now safely back with her family.

     Sanchez is the Ventura County Jail the judge reduced his bail from $250,000 to $100,000.