A juvenile corrections officer in Kern County, California, has been acquitted of charges relating to the alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl detained in the county’s James G Bowles Juvenile Hall detention facility.
Corrections officer Cesar Navejar faced four criminal charges, including sexual battery and child molestation, following allegations made by the teenager that the officer had touched her inappropriately a number of times leading to a sexual assault in September 2014.
The corrections officer was acquitted on all four counts earlier this month. At a later hearing, on 14 March, a judge declined Navejar’s petition to find him factually innocent and have his arrest record sealed, according to the Bakersfield Californian, who reported the case from court.
Kern County was identified by the Guardian as the county in the US with the highest rate of officer-involved fatalities in 2015. A five-part series uncovered serious trends in police malpractice. Navejar’s case was mentioned in part three of the series, which investigated a number of sexual assaults carried out by law enforcement officers in the county and uncovered a series of underground cash payments made to victims of sexual abuse at the hands of officers.
A civil case against Navejar, brought by the 17-year-old, remains active. Another Juvenile Hall corrections officer, George Anderson, is also facing civil charges, over allegations he sexually assaulted a minor in January 2015.
A spokesman for Kern County probation confirmed that both Navejar and Anderson remain on paid administrative leave.
