Officer Pleads Not Guilty To 12 Sex-Related Counts Involving 14-Year-Old Girl
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A police officer assigned to Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk was charged Thursday with 12 sex-related counts involving a 14-year-old girl.
Mario Uribe Estrada, 41, pleaded not guilty to four counts each of lewd act on a child and sending harmful matter to a minor, three counts of sodomy of a person under 16 and one count of oral copulation of a person under 16.
Estrada, who works for the California Department of State Hospitals, met the teen through "family and friends" earlier this year.
"This resulted in an inappropriate relationship and illegal physical contact between the suspect and victim," said Capt. Darren Arakawa of the South Gate Police Department.
The suspect, who was arrested Tuesday, was being held behind bars on $535,000 bail.
If convicted, Estrada faces up to seven years and four months in prison.
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