Jury selection continued Thursday for the trial of a 41-year-old man accused of molesting an underage relative for nearly a decade in the San Jacinto Mountain community of Pinyon Pines.
Stanford James Stelle III was arrested in 2015 stemming from allegations he sexually assaulted the girl from 2003, when she was 5 years old, until she was 13 in 2012.
Prospective jurors began filing into the Larson Justice Center in Indio more than two weeks ago. Prosecutors said the process was expected to wrap by the end of the month, with opening statements expected around Dec. 1.
The Pinyon Pines resident faces a potential life sentence if convicted of six counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, one count of committing sex acts on a child under 10 years old, three counts each of oral copulation on a minor and lewd acts on a child under 14 years by using force.
A declaration in support of arrest warrant prepared by a Riverside County sheriff’s investigator said the alleged victim told authorities she was molested by Stelle at several locations on a weekly basis over several years. One of the acts allegedly occurred during a birthday party for a 91-year-old common relative, court papers say.
The declaration alleges that in March 2015, after the molestation had stopped, the victim and Stelle spoke over the phone, and he admitted to molesting her. During the call, he allegedly contended he would “take it all back” if he could. He additionally apologized and said “he was seeking help from a doctor for his problems,” the document alleges. He was charged 10 days after the call, court records show.
Stelle, who has no felony convictions, was previously found mentally incompetent to stand trial and transferred to a state mental hospital for treatment. Criminal proceedings were restarted last year after the court found his competency had been restored.
Stelle remains behind bars on $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.