By Roxanna Jarvis
SACRAMENTO – A Sacramento man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in 2007 was bound over for trial in Sacramento County Superior Court Tuesday, after Judge Steven Gervercer found sufficient evidence in the preliminary hearing to hold him.
Carlos Victor Zaragoza’s arraignment will be July 29 at 1:35 pm. Zaragoza is currently in custody with bail set at $300,000.
Zaragoza is accused of sexual penetration with a foreign object by means of force or fear, and sexual penetration of a foreign object on a minor under 16.
The only witness was Sacramento Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Purser, who was asked by Deputy District Attorney Terri Anne Grimes to confirm and describe the events that occurred around May 12-13, 2007. Deputy Purser recounted the interview between him and the victim, as well as the six-page letter she wrote detailing the events of that night, as follows:
The 14-year old alleged victim, AD, was celebrating her older sister’s 21st birthday party at her family’s home in Sacramento when Zaragoza, the victim’s cousin’s husband, asked her to walk to the store with him in exchange for some candy.
Zaragoza and AD took the long route through a field located behind a Dollar Tree store. Along the way, the two stopped and sat along a nearby fence. Zaragoza pulled out a bottle of Hennessy and drank from it, offering some to AD, which she accepted. After finishing the bottle, Zaragoza threw it into the field and stood up, with AD standing up with him.
Zaragoza then pushed AD against the fence and started to kiss her on the mouth. AD tried to push him off of her, but Zaragoza became more forceful in using his weight to keep her against the fence.
Zaragoza began to touch AD beneath her clothing, allegedly rubbing and penetrating her vaginal area with his fingers. AD’s response was to ask Zaragoza what he was doing. Zaragoza shushed her and lulled something into her ear she couldn’t understand.
With his other hand, Zaragoza held AD’s head and neck, kissing her while he continued to penetrate her. He repeatedly told her she was “a dirty girl” and “a naughty girl.” According to AD, the 
assault lasted approximately 10 minutes.
After the incident, Zaragoza and AD walked back to the party, where they were met by AD’s father looking for her in a vehicle. Her father was reportedly upset that AD had gone alone with Zaragoza at night.
AD never told anyone about the assault until she confided in her brother-in-law, who is a pastor.
In her letter, AD also mentioned that she continued to have contact with Zaragoza in the subsequent years of the attack because she felt sorry for him.
Between August and October 2010, AD began receiving Facebook messages from Zaragoza, and she agreed to meet with him on Watt Avenue and drive him to West Sacramento to get a laptop from the defendant’s house. After that, the two went to a park to talk.
In November 2010, AD went to Zaragoza’s house and brought him food. The last communication with him was April 2016, in which AD’s pastor brother-in-law “attempted to facilitate a reconciliation” between AD, Zaragoza, and Zaragoza’s now ex-wife.
The defense, Conflict Panel Defender Joseph Farina, asked Deputy Purser, “Why, if she [AD] had been allegedly assaulted when she was 14, did she continue to stay in contact with Mr. Zaragoza?”
Purser responded that AD “felt sorry for him” because he didn’t have any money or food. So, AD brought him food on one of the occasions.
Farina argued that the culture AD came from, the Armenian culture, frowns upon unmarried women being with men if they are not in a relationship, and included that AD’s father was angry when he found them. “The fact that AD continued to stay in contact with Zaragoza several times after the alleged incident…suggests that the initial incident was not forcible,” he suggested.
“In fact,” Farina added, “it was a consensual meeting and consensual conduct.”
The judge ruled otherwise.
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