Details Surface In Sexual Assault, Attempted Abduction Of Sonoma School Girls
SONOMA COUNTY (CBS SF) -- A Sonoma man kidnapped and sexually assaulted a middle school student in his car and tried to abduct another student Tuesday morning in the Boyes Hot Springs area in unincorporated Sonoma County, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.
Both girls are students of Altimira Middle School located at 17805 Arnold Drive northwest of the city of Sonoma.
Jesse Leon Granado-Lopez, 49, allegedly grabbed a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint as she was walking to school at the intersection of El Dorado Drive and Railroad Avenue.
The girl fought back but Granado-Lopez allegedly forced her into his car and drove to another location where he sexually assaulted her, sheriff's spokeswoman Misti Wood said.
Granado-Lopez then drove the girl to another location and let her go, Wood said.
The second girl also was walking to school when Granado-Lopez allegedly tried to grab her at the same intersection and take her to his car.
The girl fought back, escaped and called 911, Wood said.
Altimira Middle School staff called the sheriff's office at 7:56 a.m. to report a student was kidnapped and assaulted. While deputies and detectives were investigating the call, the sheriff's dispatch center received a call from the second girl around 8:30 a.m. to report a man just tried to kidnap her, Wood said.
Both girls gave similar descriptions of the suspect's light brown passenger car. All available deputies in the area and the entire sheriff's office's domestic violence and sexual assault unit responded to search for and review surveillance video of the car. Granado-Lopez was found around 9:45 a.m., according to Wood.
Granado-Lopez was arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail under no bail on suspicion of six felony offenses that include kidnapping with intent to commit rape, attempted kidnapping, rape, forced oral copulation of a minor, sexual penetration with an object of a minor and lewd and lascivious acts by force of a minor.
He is scheduled to appear in Sonoma County Superior Court Thursday afternoon.
Sonoma Valley Unified School District Superintendent Socorro Shiels said in a written statement that a "strong, brave student" reported being abducted and assaulted by a man in a car and reported the attack to the school office immediately.
Shiels said a second student also reported being threatened and that "brave student and other student witnesses" assisted police in the investigation.
"We appreciate the students who reported this quickly and allowed an investigation to start immediately," Shiels said.
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