Jury convicts Salinas man for raping a 14-year-old

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) Monterey County jury found Moses Celestine, 42, guilty of two counts of forcible rape and one count of oral copulation of a minor.

According to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office, the first count happened in November 2020 when th victim was 14 years old and the second on New Year's Eve while the victim's mother was away. The 42-year-old man from Salinas was booked to Monterey County Jail on July 2, 2021, for rape, oral copulation, lew acts with a minor, violating probation, and waving a deadly weapon that wasn't a firearm, according to Monterey County Sheriff's Office.

He will be sentenced on Dec. 17, 2021. Celestine will have a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 20 years and a possible maximum sentence of 32 years. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. for the rest of his life.