Lake Elsinore Man Accused In Child Sexual Assault Must Stand Trial

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — A 41-year-old man accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a Lake Elsinore girl must stand trial on more than a dozen felony charges, a judge ruled Thursday.

Ronald Misael Andino Rodriguez of Lake Elsinore was arrested in March following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation.

At the end of a preliminary hearing Thursday at the Southwest Justice Center, Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson found there was sufficient evidence to bound Rodriguez over for trial on 12 counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old, two counts each of aggravated sexual assault of a minor and oral copulation of a minor, as well as sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting a vulnerable victim, inflicting bodily injury and kidnapping to commit a sexual offense.

The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for March 1 at the Murrieta courthouse and left the defendant's bail set at $2 million. He is being held at the Byrd Detention Center.

According to sheriff's officials, in early March of last year, deputies received a report of a sexual assault involving a girl, identified in court documents by the initials "D.A.H.," and the investigation pointed to Rodriguez as the alleged perpetrator.

Court papers indicated between July 2020 and March 2, 2023, when the victim was between 10 and 12 years old, Rodriguez raped, molested and otherwise assaulted her while having a "position of trust and confidence," though his specific connection to the girl wasn't divulged.

The locations of the alleged acts also were not disclosed.

Sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Reese said investigators tracked Rodriguez to a residence in the 33000 block of Mission Trail, where an arrest warrant was served, and he was taken into custody without incident, on March 29.

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