Registered sex offender suspected of kidnapping, sexually assaulting Stanislaus County teen
LIVINGSTON – A registered sex offender is accused of kidnapping a teenager and sexually assaulting her in an orchard in Central California, authorities said Friday.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office started the investigation on Wednesday when it received a report that a 16-year-old was kidnapped and violently sexually assaulted.
Deputies said the suspect, later identified as 36-year-old Livingston man Edgar Medina, allegedly created a fake online social media account posing as an 18-year-old man.
Medina then began communication with the teenager on Nov. 9 and made plans to meet her at a location in south Stanislaus County the next day, deputies said.
When he met with the victim, deputies said he demanded her to get into his car. He then drove her to a secluded orchard, deputies said, where he violently sexually assaulted her.
Medina drove the victim back to Turlock where he dropped her off, deputies said.
Medina, who was found to be a sexual registrant out of Merced County for a crime against a child in 2017, was then arrested in Livingston on an arrest warrant. Deputies said his vehicle was seized and found that he was in possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material.
Medina was booked into jail on five counts, including kidnapping and communicating with a minor with intent to commit sex acts.
He's held in jail on a $4.8 million bail.