Man Convicted Of Raping Woman, Assaulting Girl In Banning

BANNING, CA — A 43-year-old Banning man who sexually assaulted a woman and molested his girlfriend's 12-year-old daughter was convicted Wednesday of forcible rape and lewd acts on a child, but he was acquitted of a related allegation that he had sexually assaulted an intoxicated friend.

A Banning jury deliberated two days before finding Steven Roy McElroy guilty of the felony offenses. In addition to the rape and molestation counts, jurors also convicted McElroy of assault with intent to commit rape.

The defendant, who had been free on a $555,000 bond, was remanded into custody, and Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark Singerton scheduled a sentencing hearing for Aug. 15 at the Banning Justice Center.

McElroy was arrested in 2022 following a Banning Police Department investigation that relied on statements from victims going back a decade.

The defendant was charged for the assault on the 12-year-old girl, identified in court documents only as "S.D.," in March 2022. Detectives received information afterward concerning two women -- "A.S." and "N.H." -- who alleged they had been sexually assaulted by him on different occasions in 2015 and 2016.

According to Detective Jack Loera, A.S. and N.H. heard about the child molestation charge and decided to speak to police.

A.S. began dating McElroy in 2014, after they became re-acquainted following a long period of no contact since they had attended junior high school together, according to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office.

The woman acknowledged she had engaged in consensual sex with the defendant several times, but on an unspecified night in 2015, she and McElroy were with a group of friends when she became unwell after drinking too much and went back to his apartment in Grand Terrace to sleep, assuming he had remained with the group.

"After a few hours' sleep, she woke to the defendant having lifted up her shirt -- exposing her breasts -- and lying on top of her saying, `It's okay, just real quick, just real quick, come on,"' the brief stated.

The woman told detectives that she repeatedly said, "No." It was this charge of which McElroy was acquitted.

Asked why it took so long for her to make the allegation, she said she didn't think authorities would take her seriously at the time, so she waited for N.H. to make her allegations before disclosing her own, according to court papers.

The brief said that McElroy and N.H. were leasing an apartment together and began socializing casually, but not intimately. In January 2016, the defendant and victim joined friends to go bar hopping in Grand Terrace, and both became intoxicated, the brief said.

When they returned to their shared residence in the predawn hours, the woman went to her room and shut the door.

"While lying in bed, the defendant entered N.H.'s room without permission," the brief said "N.H. sat up on the edge of her bed and told the defendant to go back to his own room, but the defendant ignored this order."

McElroy began kissing the woman, shoving her backward and then laying on top of her to restrain her, prosecutors said. Though she told him "`no' at least six times," he engaged in non-consensual "sex with N.H. for two minutes," court papers said.

The original incident that led to all of the charges allegedly occurred on Dec. 26, 2021.

The girl, S.D., later told police that she initially considered McElroy a friend because he had been dating her mother, whose identity was not disclosed, since 2018. However, the day after Christmas, while he was visiting their Banning home, he entered the youth's bedroom uninvited, according to the brief.

McElroy asked whether the girl would "like to cuddle," and she consented, but as he hugged her, "the defendant moved his hand and reached into the front of her shirt, proceeding to squeeze her left breast," court papers said.

"While he was doing this, the defendant asked if what he was doing was okay, and she said no," the brief said.

He abruptly left.

The girl told her mother, also divulging she had seen McElroy watching her through a bathroom window as she showered, culminating in the investigation.

McElroy had a felony conviction in another jurisdiction that wasn't listed in court records.