Salinas man pleads no contest to forcible child molestation

The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office announced that a Salinas man pleaded no contest to three felony counts of forcible lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14.

Investigators said that, in February, an 11-year-old girl told her grandmother that her babysitter, 41-year-old Alfonso Casanova, had been touching her private areas while she was at his house. Salinas police investigated and said they found that the girl and her sister had stayed at Casanova’s house multiple times a week during the prior year, as part of an after-school babysitting arrangement between families.

The girl said Casanova had touched her during the previous year on an almost weekly basis and that she had told him to stop, but he had continued. During some of the incidents, she said, he forcefully pushed and held her to molest her.

The District Attorney’s Office said Casanova confessed that he had been touching the girl’s private areas for months, more than 20 times. In October, Casanova is expected to be sentenced to 28 years in state prison.