Santa Paula Man Pleads Guilty To Sexually-Related Assaults

Friday May 17, 2024

(Photos courtesy VCSO)

     A Ventura County man has pleaded guilty in connection with two sexually-related assaults in September of 2022.

     23-year-old Eliel Mejia of Santa Paula has pleaded guilty to one count of assault with intent to commit rape and one count of making criminals threats.

     He also admitted two special allegations that the victims were vulnerable and that the crimes involved planning and sophistication.

     The separate incidents involved two Ventura women in their late 20's, one incident was on September 13th, the other on September 29th.

     In both incidents Mejia would approach the women at locations in Ventura where he would entice them into his pickup truck with a promise of smoking marijuana.

     The women told authorities that Mejia had two dogs in the truck.

     He drove the women to different isolated locations near Ventura where he assaulted them, in one case threatening the woman with a knife.

     The authorities identified and arrested Mejia two days after the second attack.

      Mejia's guilty pleas came as he was about to go on trial.

     He remains in jail and will be sentenced on June 17th.