Salinas man found guilty of molesting three young girls

A Salinas man will spend 59-years-to-life in prison for molesting three girls. He will also have to register as a sex offender for life.

A jury found Ernest Vega Morales, 46, guilty this week.

The jury found him guilty ofsexual penetration of a child 10 or under, forcible lewd acts on a child,four counts of lewd acts on a child, two counts of criminal threats, two counts of dissuading awitness by force or fear, and a special allegation that Morales committed sex offenses againstmultiple child victims.

The oldest victim is now an adult. She testified that Morales molested her in his trailer in 2004 when she was 7-years-old. Morales was the neighbor of her relative.

The second victim is now 11-years-old. She testified that Morales, her neighbor at the time, molested her twice when she was 8-years-old between 2012 and 2013. She testified that he threatened to kill her family if she said anything.

The third and youngest victim is now 10-years-old. She testified that when she was 8-years-old in 2013, Morales picked her up from the yard she was playing in and took her to a more secluded area and forcibly molested her. Morales was her neighbor at the time. She told him she was going to tell her mom and he threatened to kill her family if she did. The girl didn’t tell her mom until Morales moved away in 2015.

The District Attorney’s service dog Odie helped both of the younger victims as they testified.

Morales will be sentenced on April 14.