A 22-year-old man who sexually assaulted a girl after arranging to meet her in a Riverside park pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony charges.
Anthony Eduardo Lozano on Wednesday admitted one count of unlawful intercourse with a minor and two counts of forcible lewd acts on a child under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors agreed to drop 14 related charges against Lozano.
The plea deal was announced just as the defendant’s case was called for a preliminary hearing before Superior Court Judge Gary Polk, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for Sept. 17 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
The proposed term of imprisonment wasn’t disclosed.
The defendant is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
According to the Riverside Police Department, in April 2024, Lozano communicated with a 12-year-old Los Angeles girl, possibly via social media, and persuaded her to meet him in Riverside, arranging a ride share service to retrieve the girl at her residence and transport her to Rutland Park.
“The suspect met the victim and sexually abused her,” an agency statement said, without disclosing specific details.
The victim, whose identity was not disclosed, returned home and reported the attack to Los Angeles police, culminating in a months-long investigation that was ultimately turned over to the Riverside Police Department’s Sexual Assault-Child Abuse Unit.
Detectives compiled sufficient evidence to obtain and serve an arrest warrant on Lozano in August 2024, when he was taken into custody without incident at his home on Randolph Street.
The defendant had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.