A state appeals court panel Tuesday upheld a Torrance man’s conviction for sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl who was abducted from a Gardena car wish three years ago.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that a judge in Torrance erred in imposing consecutive sentences on Michael David Ikeler, who is serving a 55-year-to-life term in state prison.
The evidence showed that Ikeler “committed multiple sexual offenses” against “a child unable to verbalize or otherwise explain what he did to her” and that his DNA was “all over” the girl’s body, according to the appellate court panel’s 14-page ruling.
The justices also rejected the defense’s contention that statements Ikeler made to a detective investigating the April 2, 2015, attack should have been excluded from his trial because he was not advised of his right to remain silent when detectives came to his home to question him. The panel noted that he was not in custody at the time he was questioned.
Ikeler was convicted in January 2017 of one count of committing a lewd act on a child and two counts of sexual penetration of a child 10 or younger. Jurors also found true an allegation that the lewd act was committed during the course of a kidnapping.
The girl was with her mother and older sister at a car wash at 14929 Western Ave. when she went missing. More than 50 volunteers, explorers and residents took part in a search for the toddler, who was found naked near a trash bin about 2 1/2 hours later in an empty parking lot in Cudahy.
Gardena police said they received a tip that led them to Ikeler, who was arrested a week later.
Ikeler testified in his own defense during the trial and denied that he had kidnapped or sexually assaulted the girl, telling jurors that a prostitute’s drug-dealing cousin had borrowed his car, according to the appellate court panel’s ruling.