Carlsbad man gets 18 years in prison for sexually assaulting daughter
A Carlsbad man was sentenced to 18 years in prison for sexually assaulting his teenage daughter since she was 8 years old, after reaching a plea deal with the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Junio Roman Lerma, 42, pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal sexual penetration in the first degree of a child younger than 13, and criminal sexual penetration in the second degree of a child aged 13 to 18.
The charges carry a sentence of 18 and 15 years, respectively, which were ordered to run concurrently via the plea deal singed Jan. 10 by Fifth Judicial District Judge Lisa Riley.
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Dismissed via the deal were three other charges of criminal sexual penetration in the first degree of a child under 13, along with another of criminal sexual contact of a minor in the second degree and a charge of incest.
Lerma was arrested on June 8, 2022.
Before his arrest, Lerma told investigators “he regretted it” when asked about sexually assaulting his daughter and said she was not lying, but never specifically confessed to the crimes, read the criminal complaint.
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The charges against Lerma arose in June 2022, after police conducted an interview with the girl and her family members.
An aunt who was helping the girl get ready for high school graduation told police her niece reported being sexually assaulted by her father since age 8 and had attempted to tell her mother before but Lerma denied the accusations, read the complaint.
A forensic interview was conducted with the girl where she told investigators Lerma physically and verbally abused her and her mother.
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The girl said Lerma would take her out of bed during the night, and “do stuff to her,” and reported he’d sexually assaulted her “more than once,” the complaint read.
She said the assaults began when she was “about eight,” read the complaint, and included Lerma forcing her to perform sexual acts on him.
The girl told police Lerma threatened to kill himself if she told anyone about the assaults, and that “He told me if the family breaks apart it’s my fault,” the complaint read.
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She said she decided to report the incidents because her father was “starting to get worse” in physically abusing the girl, her mother and her siblings.
The sexual abuse stopped when the girl was 13, she said according to the complaint, after she told her mother and siblings and her father threatened suicide if the incident was reported to law enforcement.
In an interview with the mother Jennifer Lerma, she told police the girl had reported the assaults “two or three years ago," but Lerma said his daughter was lying, the complaint read.
Jennifer Lerma told police that hearing about the abuse “made her sick” and that she “went into denial,” read the complaint.
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Carlsbad father sentenced for sexually assaulting teen daugher
