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Jury selection began Wednesday in the trial of a 49-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting four nieces and another girl in Riverside over a period of years.
Eliezer Job Mendoza Quevedo is charged with 17 felony offenses, including forcible lewd acts on a child, oral copulation of a minor under 10 years old and attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst summoned multiple panels of prospective jurors to the Riverside Hall of Justice Wednesday for screening as to their availability and qualifications.
Proceedings are slated to resume Monday. Quevedo is being held in lieu of $3 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, Quevedo allegedly targeted four nieces as well as another girl not related to him, on multiple occasions between 2004 and 2016, consistently when the children were between 8 and 10 years old — never older.
The alleged assaults occurred at residences in the 5300 block of El Molino Avenue and the 5600 block of Arlington Avenue in Riverside.
The brief described instances when the defendant would find ways to be alone with the girls, generally in their bedrooms while they were playing games, and allegedly fondle their privates.
Quevedo would allegedly force their legs open so he could “digitally penetrate” the minors, according to the brief.
In the case of on niece, when she was 8 years old, Quevedo on one occasion allegedly “entered her bedroom (and) bent her over the bed,” according to the brief.
“He stood behind her and rubbed his penis against her butt, over her clothes,” court papers stated.
One of his preferred alleged methods of molestation was to force the girls to sit on his pelvic region while he did sit-ups, according to the prosecution. The victims told investigators that Quevedo did not try to hide being aroused.
The only child who resisted vigorously was the non-relative, whose mother would leave her with the defendant’s wife as part of the latter’s babysitting work, prosecutors said.
The victim said that when the defendant tried to fondle her, she screamed, forcing him to immediately stop. Another time, he grabbed her buttocks, and she fought him off and called her father, court papers alleged.
The incident was reported to law enforcement, but little came of it, according to the prosecution.
The investigation didn’t begin in earnest until April 2021, when one of the nieces approached Riverside Police Department detectives at the age of 19, after being encouraged by counselors to speak out, according to court papers.
Quevedo was taken into custody without incident at a residence on Mount Vernon Street during the morning of April 16, 2021.
The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Man Accused of Sexually Abusing Five Girls – MyNewsLA.com
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