CLEONE, MENDOCINO COUNTY – Cleone California is a small community north of Fort Bragg, along Highway 1 near the ocean at Laguna Point and MacKerricher State Park. It was from here that a young woman reported to authorities that she had been sexually abused by a member of her family for the past seven years. The County Sheriff’s office opened an investigation in July on the reported abuser, 34-year-old Daniel Medina.
The exact relationship between him and the young victim was not disclosed, though at least at this time, he was living in nearby Fort Bragg, at a home on West Street, a residential neighborhood in the central part of town. Most of the incidents of abuse reportedly took place at this location, though two recent incidents happened in Cleone.
On Tuesday, August 19, Sheriff’s detectives served a search warrant at Medina’s home, and he was taken into custody and interviewed. He was arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and penetration with a foreign object. He was booked at the Mendocino County Jail with bail set at $200,000.
