People v. Morales CA2/6

Filed 1/29/25 P. v. Morales CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B335887 (Super. Ct. No. 2016023855) Plaintiff and Respondent, (Ventura County)

v.

VIDAL VARGAS MORALES,

Defendant and Appellant.

Vidal Vargas Morales appeals from the judgment after a jury convicted him of committing lewd or lascivious acts on a child aged 15 years old or younger. (Pen. Code,1 § 288, subd. (c)(1).) The trial court subsequently found true that Morales took advantage of a position of trust to commit his crime (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.421(a)(11)), and sentenced him to two years in state prison. Morales contends there was insufficient evidence that his victim was 15 years old when he committed his crime. We affirm.

1 Statutory references are to the Penal Code.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Jane Doe was born on November 16, 1997. Between 2011 and 2015 she was active in her local Catholic church. Morales led the church’s youth group, taught confirmation classes, and led the peer leader group. Doe looked up to him as a “makeshift father figure.” On October 28, 2013, Doe started dating her first boyfriend. When she told Morales, he asked whether she would still love him. Doe did not understand what he meant. Morales then began to send daily text messages to Doe saying that he loved her, that he wanted her, that he needed her to stay with him. Doe told him that she loved the church and would not leave. Doe later told Morales that she no longer wanted to be a peer leader at church. Morales told her she could not go and reminded her of her promise not to leave him. Doe thereafter tried to avoid Morales. In November, Doe woke up feeling unwell and did not want to go to school. Her mother asked if she wanted to attend weekday mass with her instead. Doe agreed to do so after her mother said she had never seen Morales at church on a weekday. Morales was at church, however. When speaking with Doe that day he hugged her three times. The first two hugs were tight and accompanied by a moan in her ear. During the third hug Morales wrapped one hand around Doe’s waist and squeezed her breast with his other hand. Morales let go of Doe’s breast after about 15 seconds and told her she could enter the church. Doe had not turned 16 years old when this happened. She reported the incident to her boyfriend when she was 16 or 17, and to her therapist when she was 17 or 18.