BRIEF: Gustine police arrest accused molester after trip to San Jose

April 03--A suspected child molester is in Merced County Jail after Gustine police traveled to the Bay Area over the weekend to make the arrest.

Gustine police received reports last month about a 5-year-old girl being molested. The child's mother said the suspect was the grandmother's husband, a Gustine Police Department new release said.

Officer Efren Fernandez learned the 45-year-old suspect first molested the girl at his San Jose home in November 2016. He later molested her twice more in the victim's Gustine home. Medical exam results showed the victim suffered sexual assault by bodily force, police said.

Fernandez and Officer Eric Warner obtained an arrest warrant on Saturday and drove to San Jose. With the assistance of San Jose Police Department, Domiciano Cardoza Ortiz was taken into custody and transported to Merced County, where he was booked into jail.

Cardoza Ortiz was booked on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, continued sexual abuse of a child, sexual battery, false imprisonment and sexual penetration by force with a child under 14.

He remains in jail on $250,000 bond.

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