The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
A man who is a pastor at a Los Angeles church has been accused of the molestation of two young Chinese girls who are foreign exchange students that were staying in a hotel room.
Two girls, ages 10 and 12, were sharing a room at the Vanllee Hotel and Suites in Covina on Wednesday night when they were the alleged victims of a sexual predator. The young women are a part of a foreign exchange student program and they were taking part in a field trip. Though they had their own room there was a chaperone in the establishment to keep watch over the students.
Hotel surveillance video displayed a silver truck parked outside the room where the girls were staying, and a man was seen staring into their hotel room and masturbating while looking at them through the window. The man then allegedly entered the lobby of the hotel and knocked on their door. The victims opened the door believing that it was their chaperone, but they were met by the stranger who then forced his way into the room.
The man purportedly sexually assaulted one of the preteen victims while the other girl was in the room, and he hastily left afterward and drove away in his truck.
Police received a call reporting the attack around 8:00 P.M. An investigation was opened to determine the identity of the perpetrator and 40-year-old Douglas Rivera, a pastor at God’s Gypsy Christian Church of Los Angeles in Glendale, was determined to be the suspected person of interest. Reports from several people associated with the church were received by the authorities, and the callers believed that the man seen in the security video was Rivera.
After learning of the accusations against him Rivera made a video that he posted to Instagram stating that he was innocent of the allegations and that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Rivera, who was said to be known for being a family man with wife and children, turned himself in to the Covina Police Department late in the morning on Sunday. His lawyer was with him when he arrived at the station. He was released later that afternoon after posting $100,000 bail and his arraignment, where he is said to be looking at charges of sexual assault, indecent exposure, and burglary, was scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
If you or someone you love is suspected of child molestation, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.