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Man arrested on molestation charges
By Marisa Navarro, mnavarro@VenturaCountyStar.com
May 10, 2006

A Newbury Park man suspected of sexually assaulting a teen and then stalking him is in jail, officials said Tuesday.

Juan Santos Barrera, 40, faces charges of oral copulation of a person under 18, assault with a deadly weapon, stalking, sodomy of an unconscious victim and rape by use of drugs, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department said. He has no prior sex offenses.

Barrera befriended the 17-year-old male in September at a church function in the Newbury Park area, the Sheriff's Department said. The teen, who is in the country illegally and whose parents remain in Mexico, wanted to attend high school; Barrera is suspected of helping him falsify paperwork to become a student. Barrera also invited the teen to temporarily live with him, the Sheriff's Department said.

Soon after that, Barrera is suspected of giving the teen an alcoholic drink spiked with a drug. The sexual abuse is believed to have occurred multiple times while the teen was unconscious from the drugs, said Sheriff's Capt. Gary Pentis.

Another time that the teen was presented with an alcoholic beverage, he pretended to drink it and fall asleep. As the suspect tried to sexually assault the victim, the teen grabbed a pocket knife and stabbed him in the shoulder, the Sheriff's Department said.

When Barrera went to the hospital to seek care, he told authorities he was attacked by two people he did not know, the Sheriff's Department said.

After the stabbing, the victim moved out and tried to end contact with Barrera. The suspect followed him for more than a month, even appearing outside the teen's high school, according to the Sheriff's Department.

"That's when the juvenile got concerned that it would happen again and ¿ approached police," Pentis said.

In one instance, Barrera is accused of attempting to strike the victim with his car, the Sheriff's Department said.

On Monday, Barrera was arrested at his residence in the 400 block of Citation Way in Newbury Park.

The Sheriff's Department believes that the victim and suspect are in the country illegally, but only the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can determine whether they are to be deported, Pentis said.

The Sheriff's Department presented the county District Attorney's Office with information about the stabbing, but it is believed that the teen acted in self-defense when he stabbed Barrera, Pentis said.

Authorities ask that anyone with information on the case contact the Ventura County Sheriff's Department's east county station at 494-8200.