A 40-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 79 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting four girls in Orange County.
Juan Carlos Mendez Flores was convicted Nov. 15 of 18 felony sex counts against the victims. He was given credit for 2,458 days behind bars.
A 14-year-old girl told Garden Grove police March 29, 2015, that the defendant had been sexually assaulting her for three years, according to prosecutors. The girl’s mother had been dating and living with Flores at the time, prosecutors said.
The girl said she would be molested multiple times a week over the three years, prosecutors said. The girl said Flores also molested her sister while she slept, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors did not file charges at the time.
About 4 1/2 years later, on Dec. 17, 2018, two more girls told sheriff’s investigators in Stanton that the defendant sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said.
One of the girls was 12 years old and the other was 8, prosecutors said. The girls’ mother was dating the defendant’s brother at the time, prosecutors said.
In October 2018, the victims’ mother was diagnosed with cancer and had to be hospitalized for several days, prosecutors said. While she was in the hospital, her boyfriend and the defendant looked after them, prosecutors said.
It was during her mother’s hospitalization, the defendant sexually assaulted the 12-year-old, prosecutors said.