Thousand Oaks Man Arrested For Sexually Assaulting Runaways

CAMARILLO (CBSLA) – A Thousand Oaks man is facing allegations he sexually assaulted at least five teen runaways from Camarillo over a period of three years.

Mario Gonzalez Solano, 30, was taken into custody June 6 by Ventura County Sheriff's deputies. He faces multiple counts of rape, forced oral copulation, lewd acts against child and unlawful sexual intercourse with minors, among other charges.

The investigation began June 4 when deputies responded to the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl, and identified Solano as the suspect. Two days later, June 6, investigators conducted an undercover operation in which they posed as a 16-year-old girl and agreed to meet Solano with the understanding they would have sex. When Solano drove up from Thousand Oaks to Camarillo for the meeting, he was arrested.

In the weeks following his arrest, investigators determined that, between July 2015 and April 2018, Solano had sexually assaulted at least four other Camarillo girls, ages 14 and 15, the sheriff's department reports.

In each case, Camarillo would pick up the victim and take her to a hotel room in either Thousand Oaks, Camarillo or Ventura. He would provide the victim with drugs and alcohol before sexually assaulting her, VCSD reports.

Camarillo is being held on $500,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court July 9.