Prosecutor: Man Molested Children While Wife Napped

A 46-year-old man molested two young sisters and his daughter's friend in his Mission Viejo home, sometimes when his wife was napping in another room, a prosecutor told jurors today.

Omar Alirio Guzman is charged with eight felony counts of lewd acts with a minor for allegedly molesting the three girls in 2009 and 2010, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker said.

“We're here because the defendant sexually touched three little girls,” the prosecutor alleged in her opening statement.

Guzman's attorney, Michael Morrison of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, maintained his client's innocence, telling the jury that the girls have given contradictory statements to various investigators.

Guzman was previously charged with molesting a fourth girl—a 5-year-old—in 1995 when he was a house cleaner, but two felony counts of lewd acts with a minor were dismissed Feb. 8 because the alleged victim was reluctant to testify, Walker said outside the courtroom.

The prosecutor told the jury that one of the sisters -- who were 9 and 10 years old at the time -- was inspired by a TV show the family was watching about a father who abused a girl to tell her mother what had happened to her.

The girl told her mother that Guzman had been molesting her for about a year, but she had been too scared to tell anyone because she was under the impression he was in the Army and would retaliate against the family if she revealed anything, Walker said.

The girl's sister then told her mother that the defendant had molested her about 10 times, Walker said.

Guzman was a “very close” neighbor of the alleged victims and would socialize often with their parents, Walker said. The alleged molestations would usually happen in the defendant's home when the girls would come over to play with Guzman's daughter, the prosecutor said.

The molestations would happen out of sight of Guzman's daughter and wife, sometimes when she was napping, Walker alleged.

After investigators were alerted, another girl who was a friend of Guzman's daughter came forward to allege that she, too, had been victimized, Walker said.

Morrison said the alleged victims' statements to investigators have changed over time.

“Every time they have spoken to someone about the case, the details have changed,” the defense attorney said.

One of the girls was asked if it's “possible you were dreaming about this,” and she agreed. But a few months later, she told investigators she was certain she was molested, Morrison said.

“What you won't see or hear is anyone saying they witnessed any inappropriate touching or molesting,” Morrison told the jury. “You won't see any other evidence other than inconsistent statements of the girls.”

--City News Service