Cloverdale man sentenced to 26 years in prison for sexual assaults on girls

A Sonoma County Superior Court judge sentenced a Cloverdale man to 26 years in prison on Tuesday after a jury convicted him in January for sexually assaulting two minors.

Emilio Guzman-Garcia, 43, testified in his own defense during the trial where he faced nine counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon two girls under the age of 14 dating as far back as 2008. He denied touching a 12-year-old on multiple occasions in 2016, and that he ever knew the second victim, who was 9 years old at the time of the incident. In both cases, Guzman-Garcia was working as a ranch hand, at a horse ranch in Petaluma, and at a ranch in Forestville, respectively.

“You earned it,” Judge Robert LaForge told the defendant. “You put these girls through a very traumatic experience, something that they’ll never get over most likely. To this day, you deny it. So now you have plenty of time to think about it.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or at kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.