Salinas man pleads guilty to sexually molesting his wife’s niece

A Salinas man has pleaded guilty to sexually molesting a young girl he was babysitting.

Monterey County District Attorney Dean D. Flippo said 60-year-old Juan Mateo Salvador-Rivera pled guilty to one count of forcible child molest and one count of non-forcible child molest on Tuesday.

Salvador Rivera is the victim’s aunt’s husband and molested the girl when no one was home.

He molested the girl four to five times over a three year period from the time she was 7 to 9-years-old.

During one of the sexual assaults, the girl tried to pull away, but Salvador-Rivera forcefully pulled her closer to him. He then told her not to tell anyone and that it was just a game.

The victim felt scared and did not tell anyone about the sexual assaults until she was 10-years-old.

At first, Salvador-Rivera denied sexually assaulting the girl, but he eventually admitted to the crime to detectives.
Salvador-Rivera will be sentenced on June 8th to either eight, 10 or 12 years in prison.