Riverside man charged with sexually assaulting teens

MURRIETA, Calif. – A 20-year-old man accused of engaging in sex acts with two teenage girls in Lake Elsinore was charged Wednesday with unlawful intercourse with a minor and other offenses.

Emilio Esteban Ronquillo of Riverside was arrested last week following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.

Along with unlawful intercourse, Ronquillo is charged with three counts of oral copulation of a minor and one count each of sexual penetration with a foreign object, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a sentence-enhancing allegation of committing a crime while on bail.

Emilio Esteban Ronquillo, accused of engaging in sex acts with two teenage girls, was charged Wednesday with unlawful intercourse with a minor and other offenses. Photo from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department

The defendant, who is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail at the Byrd Detention Center, was slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Thomas, in December, deputies at the sheriff’s Lake Elsinore station received reports of a sexual assault on a runaway girl, identified in court documents only as Jane Doe.

The investigation resulted in allegations that Ronquillo had facilitated the victim’s flight and “harbored the juvenile for two days before returning the victim home,” Thomas said.

He said deputies arrested the defendant for his alleged assault on the teenager, but Ronquillo was able to post bond and was released from custody around the start of the year.

“In January, another juvenile victim came forward and disclosed (she was) a victim of sexual assault by Ronquillo,” the sergeant said.

No details were released concerning how the defendant had come into contact with the second girl, identified in documents only as “K.H.”

The ensuing investigation culminated in his arrest last week in Hemet.

Ronquillo has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. (CNS)