On Tuesday, October 25, 2022, a Merced County Jury returned guilty and true verdicts on all charged offenses against Martin Villalobos of Merced, California. Mr. Villalobos was found by the jury to have sexually abused an immediate family member.
On October 23, 2021, Merced Police Department responded to a report of a sexual assault. During the course of the investigation, the Confidential Victim disclosed sexual abuse by Mr. Villalobos. The Confidential Victim disclosed the sexual abuse had been going on for three years. A subsequent forensic interview was conducted of the Confidential Victim in which they disclosed additional acts of sexual abuse by Mr. Villalobos. The victim was under the age of 10 when they were sexually abused.
During the trial, the jurors heard from the victim who testified about the sexual abuse they had endured from Mr. Villalobos. The jury heard testimony from Detective Radke from the Merced Police Department who was the lead detective on the case. They also heard from Detective Gorman who testified about the forensic interview of the Confidential Victim. In the end, Mr. Villalobos was convicted of three counts of oral copulation with a child under the age of 10, a violation of Penal Code 288.7 (b) and five counts of sodomy with a child under the age of 10, a violation of Penal Code 288.7 (a).
Mr.Villalobos will be sentenced by Merced County Superior Court Judge Mark V. Bacciarini on November 18, 2022. He faces a possible 170 years to life in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.