Victim takes stand in Santa Rosa sex abuse case

A woman laid out allegations Monday in a Santa Rosa courtroom of a horrific childhood of sexual abuse at the hands of a stepfather who got her pregnant twice, the first time when she was 13 years old.

The now 28-year-old Santa Rosa woman testified in the trial of Eloy Perez, 57, and her adopted mother, Flor Angelica Garcia-Morteo, 51, who prosecutors said knew what was happening and helped cover it up.

The couple have pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers have suggested they did not know the former orphan’s true age and thought she was older.

Identified in court only as Jane Doe, the woman testified the molestation began in Mexico when she was 10. After several years of alleged abuse, the woman said, she moved to Sonoma County with the couple and was attending a Santa Rosa middle school when she found out she was three months’ pregnant with her first child.

The couple pulled her from school, the woman testified, saying the adults lied to school officials that she was moving to San Diego and allegedly forced her to assume a different name and age to avoid suspicion from doctors at Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa.

She didn’t tell other family members or teachers what was going on for fear that police would take her baby away, she said.

“So I didn’t say anything,” testified the woman.

Sixteen months after giving birth to a baby girl in 2000, the woman was pregnant with another child by Perez, she testified. After giving birth to a boy in 2002, the woman said, she continued to live with both defendants until 2008, when she moved out with Garcia-Morteo.

The alleged abuse came to light four years later during a custody dispute with Perez.

He and Garcia-Morteo were arrested in 2012 and have remained in jail for more than two years on ?$1.1 million bail each. They face life in prison if convicted of eight felonies including rape, committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and aggravated sexual assault.

Legal watchers said it’s among the worst child-sex cases in Sonoma County in recent years. A majority of the time family members are alleged to be the abusers, said Kathleen Pozzi, the county’s public defender.

“It is extremely rare to have a child molestation case where the perpetrator is a complete stranger,” Pozzi said. “A substantial number involve step-parents or boyfriends.”

According to testimony, the girl grew up in Tijuana and at an early age was taken in by Garcia-Morteo, who she called her mom. When she was 9, Perez and his three sons moved in with them and took a father role, she said.

“When I first met him I was happy,” she testified. “I was going to have a dad for the first time.”

But the relationship changed when she was forced to share a bedroom with the couple. Perez molested her and forced her to watch him have sex with Garcia-Morteo, she testified.

The abuse continued when they moved north across the border to Santa Rosa a year later, about 1996, to live with Perez’s relatives, she said.

She complained to her mother but was told, “That’s life. I have to learn,” she testified.

While at the Santa Rosa middle school, the woman said she began feeling sick and throwing up in the morning. Her mother brought home a pregnancy test kit and determined she was pregnant, she said.

The woman said she was confused about what was happening and was disappointed to have to leave school because she liked it so much. She never returned.

“I just took my stuff out of the locker,” she said. “I didn’t have a chance to say bye to my friends.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.