Crime & Safety

Lerma Charged With Sexual Assault Against Two Women

The Fountain Valley man and U.S. Customs agent faces multiple felonies in connection with alleged rapes in Long Beach and Garden Grove.

A Fountain Valley man was formally charged today with multiple sexual assaults in connection with the alleged rape of two women.

Miguel Lerma Jr., 31, made his first court appearance today in front of Judge John S. Adams at the West Justice Center in Westminster. Lerma did not enter a plea, and his arraignment was continued until April 18. He is charged with one felony count each of forcible rape, sodomy by force, and forcible oral copulation for Jane Doe #1, and one felony count of rape by use of drugs for Jane Doe #2. He is being represented by the public defender.

Lerma, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer, was arrested Thursday morning outside of his home in Fountain Valley after DNA evidence connected him to a November 2010 rape in Garden Grove. The evidence also tied him to a previously unsolved rape in Long Beach from September of 2009, according to authorities.

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If convicted, Lerma faces up to 32 years in state prison. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond, and Adams ordered Lerma to surrender his passport should he post bond.


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