Redwood City man sentenced to 20 years for sexually abusing three children

REDWOOD CITY — A 69-year-old Redwood City man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing three children over the course of many years, prosecutors said.

Sergio Emilio Perez-Juarez pleaded no contest in June to one count of felony forcible lewd act with a child and one count of felony continuous child molestation, both with allegations of being a serious and violent felony, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

Perez-Juarez also has to register as a sex offender and abide by 10-year no-contact orders.

The case had been on the eighth day of a jury trial when one victim decided that she could not testify in the courtroom, prompting the DA’s office to propose a new plea deal to Perez-Juarez, prosecutors said.

“Given the state of the evidence at the time the plea was entered, we think that this was a just outcome,” said Shin-Mee Chang, chief deputy district attorney for the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

The trial could have sought charges that would have carried a life sentence, Chang added. She also noted that the prosecution could have prevailed in the trial with the testimonies of two out of the three victims, but that “it became a lot harder” without the other witness, she added. The victims were consulted before the DA’s office offered the new plea deal.

The previous plea deal offer to Perez-Juarez included a sentence of 28 years in prison, prosecutors added.

Gabriela Guraiib, Perez-Juarez’s defense attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.

Shortly after moving into a garage room of the home of the first two victims in the case, who were sisters, Perez-Juarez began to molest the girls, according to authorities.

The allegations against Perez-Juarez came to light years later – when the sisters were 16 and 19 – and police were investigating allegations that Perez-Juarez was hitting their younger brother, prosecutors said.

Between February 2014 and February 2020, Perez-Juarez committed multiple forcible lewd acts against the first victim, who was ten years old at the start of the abuse, according to court documents.

Between August 2012 and August 2015, Perez-Juarez committed multiple instances of sexual penetration or oral copulation against the second victim, who was aged six years old at the beginning of the period of abuse, according to court documents. He was further charged with committing lewd acts against the victim between January 2020 and March 2021.

Perez-Juarez later moved into the home of his third victim, who was unrelated to the other two victims, prosecutors said. Shortly after moving in, Perez-Juarez tore off her pajamas and sexually assaulted her.

Perez-Juarez also faced a charge of forcibly raping the third victim between January and June 2020 when she was 16 years old, according to court documents.