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California man pleads guilty to sexually assaulting neighbors’ 3-year-old

Posted at 11:11 PM, May 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-17 23:12:20-04

SAN DIEGO — A registered sex offender who broke into his next-door neighbor’s home, where he raped and sodomized a 3-year-old girl, pleaded guilty Friday to four felony charges and is facing an 85-year prison term.

Francisco Diaz, 47, entered his plea to four counts of forcible lewd acts on a child, and admitted serious prior felony convictions, according to Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 17.

Last summer’s attack occurred the morning of Aug. 11 in the 5200 block of Maple Street in Oak Park.

Diaz broke a screen and curtain rod and climbed through a window of the sleeping child’s bedroom. When the toddler woke up and cried while being sexually assaulted, Diaz carried her out through the window and was walking her toward his home when the defendant’s mother saw them and wrapped the child — who was naked from the waist down — in a blanket.

Police were called around 9:45 a.m. and Diaz was arrested.

“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare,” Grasso said following Diaz’s arraignment last year. “The violation, the betrayal, (it’s just) horrific. I think that not only does it impact the victim but it impacts the entire family, who now have to look over their shoulder, who now cannot feel safe in their own home. It causes you as a parent to be more cautious, more protective.”

According to the Megan’s Law website, which tracks the state’s sex offenders, Diaz has a 2007 conviction for annoying or molesting a child.