The operator of a Riverside child daycare facility accused of sexually assaulting two girls must stand trial on multiple counts of lewd acts on a child and other offenses, a judge ruled Friday.
Ladislao Diaz Cuevas, 54, was arrested in February following a Riverside Police Department investigation.
At the end of a preliminary hearing Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gary Polk found there was sufficient evidence to bound Cuevas over for trial on five counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old, two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object and a sentence-enhancing allegation of targeting more than one victim in a sex crime.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for Oct. 27 at the Riverside Hall of Justice and left the defendant’s bail set at $1 million.
Cuevas is being held at the nearby Robert Presley Jail
According to Riverside police Officer Ryan Railsback, detectives from the police department’s Sexual Assault-Child Abuse Unit received information in January indicating Cuevas allegedly had inappropriate contact with a girl about three years ago.
During the ensuing investigation, “a second victim came forward to report similar allegations that occurred in December 2022,” Railsback said.
The two children were identified only as Jane Does. Their ages were not disclosed.
Cuevas operated Little Steps Family Daycare in the 11000 block of Oriole Drive, within the La Sierra Hills area, the police spokesman said.
The specific circumstances behind the alleged assaults on the children were not disclosed.
Cuevas has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.