Man Pleads Guilty To Attempted Molestation Of Child

BANNING (CBS) — A Banning man Monday admitted trying to perform a sex act on his 2-year-old granddaughter.

Antonio Peralta Garcia, 47, pleaded guilty to attempted oral copulation of a minor and is slated to be sentenced on Jan. 13 to five years in state prison.

During a status hearing before Riverside County Superior Court Judge James Warren, Garcia withdrew his not guilty plea under an agreement negotiated with the District Attorney's Office. In exchange for the defendant's admission, prosecutors dropped a second charge against him of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old.

Had Garcia been convicted of both counts by a jury, he could have faced more than 15 years in prison.

He remains behind bars in lieu of $1 million bail at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

On the afternoon of Sept. 19, officers were summoned to an apartment in the 700 block of West Nicolet Street to investigate allegations that a 2-year-old girl had been molested.

The toddler's mother came home and found the suspect committing a sexual act on the 2-year-old, according to a Banning police statement.

Garcia left the apartment following a confrontation with the woman, but was located three blocks away and taken into custody without incident.