STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. — A Merced County man who is a lifetime registered sex offender was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of kidnapping and sexual assaulting a 16-year-old girl in Turlock.
According to the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office, 36-year-old Edgar Perez Medina, of Livingston, is suspected of creating a fake social media profile posing as an 18-year-old man on Nov. 9. After making the profile, he began talking with the girl and they made plans to meet somewhere in South Stanislaus County the next day.
Medina met with the girl near her home and demanded she got inside his car, the sheriff's office said. He then drove into a secluded orchard, where the sheriff's office said he violently sexually assaulted the minor.
The sheriff's office said Medina drove and dropped the girl off in Turlock.
An investigation began days following the encounter after detectives received a report which identified Medina as a registered sex offender in Merced County. Medina was convicted for a crime against child in 2017.
Medina was arrested at his Livingston home and and was booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center for charges related to kidnapping, sexual assault, sodomy and communicating with a minor with the intent to commit sex acts.
The sheriff's office said Medina was found with further possession of child sexual abuse material and his vehicle was seized for evidence.
Medina was arraigned on Nov. 15 and is being held on $4.6 million bail.
For anyone with information related to the incident is urge to contact the sheriff's office at 209-525-7114.
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