A Claremont man pleaded no contest Monday to a felony lewd act charge for inappropriately touching a 9-year-old boy in a restroom at the Puente Hills Mall in Industry.
Richard Matthew Camarena, 45, is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 31 to three years in prison and be ordered to register as a lifetime sex offender, according to prosecutors.
A representative of Downtown Disney said shortly after Camarena’s arrest that he had been employed at one of the retail stores at the outdoor shopping center, which is part of the Disneyland complex in Anaheim.
The boy, whose name was withheld, had been watching a movie with his parents and went to the restroom on his own. Prosecutors said Camarena wiggled open the locked door to the boy’s stall and groped him, but left when the victim struggled with him.
The youngster immediately alerted members of his family about what had occurred, and they contacted law enforcement, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Police circulated video surveillance footage of Camarena, who was arrested about two weeks after the July 8 incident. He has remained jailed since then in lieu of $100,000 bail.
The Downtown Disney representative declined to say which store employed Camarena, but said he had been placed on administrative leave pending resolution of the criminal case.
–City News Service