Lost Hills deputy charged with sexual assault

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A Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff’s deputy was arraigned today on a Los Angeles County Grand Jury indictment charging him with sexually assaulting two women, including one under the age of 18, during traffic stops in 2002, the district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.

Juan-Antonio E. Jimenez, 36, who worked at the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff’s Station during the time of the alleged assault, pled not guilty to the felony charges that could send him to state prison for a maximum of 12 years and four months, if convicted.

The indictment was returned by the grand jury on Aug. 20, but remained under seal pending arraignment of the defendant. The indictment was unsealed when Jimenez surrendered in Los Angeles Superior Court, said Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Munisoglu of the Justice System Integrity Division, in a press release.

Jimenez was charged with two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object under threat of authority, one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object of a person under the age of 18 and one count of filing a false report.

It was alleged Jimenez sexually assaulted one victim on Sept. 16, 2002, and the minor on Dec. 20/21 2002. The false report count involved a separate matter and occurred on Oct. 3-4, according to the indictment.

One alleged assault took place near the 101 Freeway and Kanan Road, while Jimenez was on patrol, Sheriff’s Spokesperson Steve Whitmore said. Jimenez worked at the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff’s Station from May 2001 to Dec. 23 2003. He was reassigned to his home, after investigation by the Sheriff’s Internal Criminal Investigation Bureau.

One victim, who lived in the Valley, reported the alleged assault to the LAPD, which contacted Lost Hills officials who immediately referred the case to the bureau, Whitmore said.

Whitmore said he did not know the timeline of the reports.