Castaic Man, Former LAPD Officer, Pleads To Child Molestation Charge

Posted by: KHTS FM 98.1 & AM 1220 in Santa Clarita News July 30, 2013 - 11:58 am 0 313 Views

A Castaic man who was an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department is expected to take a three-year plea deal for sex crimes against a child, a District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman said Tuesday.

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Miguel Angel Schiappapietra, 28, of Castaic, pleaded no contest Tuesday to one count of child molestation at a courtroom in downtown Los Angeles.

“He is expected to get three years in state prison, and be ordered to register for the rest of his life as a sex offender,” said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s office.

The violation was penal code section 288(a), “committing a lewd and lascivious act … with the intent of arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passions and sexual desires of the said defendant and said child,” according to the criminal complaint.

Both victims were under the age of 10, according to the criminal complaint, which included two counts of lewd acts upon a child.

Schiappapietra pleaded no contest to the charges on May 21, which, had he been convicted, faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Schiappapietra is free on $200,000 bail until Sept 6., when he will be back in court for a sentencing by Judge Michael Abzug.

The alleged crimes occurred in Castaic, which is where the officer lived, according to Sgt. Brian Hudson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau.

Schiappapietra was arrested at his Castaic home.

Two girls told detectives that at 9 a.m. on May 18, the suspect lured them into his residence in the 28000 block of Branch Road in Castaic, and committed lewd acts, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials.

The case was presented to the District Attorney’s Office on May 20, one day after the crime occurred.

Schiappapietra was a six-year veteran of the LAPD and stationed at the Foothill Station for the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Special Victims Bureau has seven locations throughout Los Angeles County and investigates all sexual and physical assaults of children, as well as all sex crimes.

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