Suspect given 48 years
A Newhall man was sentenced Wednesday to 48 years in state prison for sexually assaulting 10 children over a 15 year period, a prosecutor for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer said Francisco Avendano,
42, pleaded no contest on July 6 to 12 counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14, two counts of lewd acts on a child 14 years old and one count each of lewd acts upon a child 15 years old and continuous sexual abuse.
His girlfriend, Jacqueline Wadsworth, 32, also pleaded no contest on that date to one count of lewd act upon a child under 13.
She was sentenced on Aug. 5 to five years formal probation, 52 weeks of sexual compulsion control classes and is subject to a 10-year protective order. Both defendants will be required to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives.
Children between the ages of 3 and 15 years old were victimized from 2001 to 2015, Kramer said.
The victims were children they had access to, including family members, family friends and the children of friends of Avendano, she said.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau.
Avendano had been scheduled to be sentenced on three separate dates this month and on each of those days he failed to appear in court.
The first time Avendano failed to appear in court was Aug. 3. It was because he refused to comply. The second and third times he failed to appear for sentencing was due to an unexplained medical reason.
On Wednesday, however, Avendano was sentenced.
Avendano and Wadsworth were arrested March 31 on suspicion of having committed lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, arrest records show.
After the couple’s arrest, detectives identified six more alleged child victims in addition to the two alleged victims who sparked the initial arrests, Sgt. Brian Hudson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau said in April.
As a result of the additional allegations, prosecutors amended their original felony complaint against Avendano, according to a copy of the complaint.