A former sheriff’s deputy from Fresno, California, was found guilty of abusing a child. It only came about after the father of the child placed a hidden camera in her room.
Garcia married his wife Josephine in 2000, and he lived with her, her mother, her son, and his daughter in a three-bedroom home in Fresno.
ABC30 reported that the father said that his teen daughter told him. “She told me, she goes ‘Dad, Papa’s been touching me,’” the father said of her step-grandfather, who as affectionately called “Papa.”
The father feared no one would believe Garcia was capable of the abuse, which lasted years, as he was a convicted thief, and Garcia is a former police officer.
A video from 2015 apparently showed him going into her room at night while she slept before he abused her. “He came in and he sat on the edge of the bed and then got up and walked out,” the father said.
Two nights later, Garcia went back the room, which was captured on camera. The father then went to the police with the evidence.
“Look at those videos. Doesn’t show anything nefarious. Nothing at all,” Garcia’s defense attorney, Antonio Alvarez, argued.
“Pretty simple,” Garcia said. “I’m trying to adjust. She’s got two or three blankets and I’m trying to adjust the blankets.”
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