Child Molester Receives One Year in Jail

A light sentence handed down in a child sex abuse case in Santa Barbara has left the victim’s family concerned that more children could be at risk. Cesar Trejo-Acosta pled guilty to one felony charge of battery with serious bodily injury at a court hearing on November 30. Trejo-Acosta sexually assaulted his three-year-old cousin a decade ago.

Judge Clifford R. Anderson III sentenced him to a year in County Jail and three years’ probation. Trejo-Acosta must also complete a sex offender rehabilitation program when he is released from jail. The case, however, is not all that it seems. The victim’s family says the District Attorney’s Office and Santa Barbara Police Department overlooked a longer timeline of abuse, possibly involving more than one victim.

The case made its debut in juvenile court, where Trejo-Acosta was charged with two counts of oral copulation and one count of penetration with a foreign object. It involved one incident between Trejo-Acosta and the victim, who were respectively 17 and 3 years old at the time. However, the victim, who is now 14, said that the abuse continued for a longer period.