A 63-year-old man was charged Thursday with sexually assaulting a young girl in Irvine.
Ruediger Luzian Alfred Smith was charged with two felony counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration of a child 10 years or younger. Smith, who was ordered held on $1 million bail, did not enter a plea at his arraignment Thursday in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana. The hearing was rescheduled for Feb. 26 in the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.
Police were called Friday about sexual abuse of the girl in an apartment on Cardiff, police said.
Cardiff is a residential street in northeastern Irvine near Plaza Park and Plaza Vista K-8 School.
The girl told investigators she had been sexually abused for over two years under his care, police said. Her exact age was not disclosed.
There may be other victims as he had “unsupervised contact with multiple children,” police said. Anyone with information for investigators was asked to email rsteen@cityofirvine.org.