A 44-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 21 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl he lived with in La Habra and soliciting the murders of his wife and her boyfriend.
Jose Peralta Elizarraras pleaded guilty June 30 to two counts of attempted solicitation to commit murder and three counts of forcible lewd acts on a child, all felonies. He was given credit for 5,860 days behind bars since his arrest May 18, 2017.
Elizarraras accepted a plea deal from prosecutors in the two cases.
La Habra police were called April 26, 2017, to Sierra Vista School to take a possible child abuse report, according to court records. A custodian told the principal he overheard the victim tell a classmate she performed a sex act on the defendant in exchange for gifts, according to court records.
The girl told police the defendant would perform sex acts on her in exchange for dolls, shoes and a backpack and was told to keep it a secret or he would take the gifts back, according to court records.
While he was in custody he passed a letter to another inmate who was being released that asked someone to kill his wife and her boyfriend, according to court records.
Sheriff’s deputies seized the letter passed to the inmate as it is against the rules. In the letter, the defendant wrote, “I need a big ass favor to ask you my boy. I need your help taking two people out asap. I need boy my wife and her vato to be handle. I know the cost is great and dangerous to you so I am asking you to see what can be done or what can do it so it doesn’t fall back on you.”
The wife agreed to a “ruse” from law enforcement to pose for pictures indicating she had been killed and an undercover deputy posing as the hitman visited the defendant in custody, officials said in court papers. During the visit, an investigator collected the defendant’s personal property, which included letters.
One of the letters was protected by attorney-client privilege and was not immediately turned over to defense attorneys, who attempted to have the case dismissed due to outrageous governmental misconduct. Those attempts were denied and a plea bargain was worked out.