Sacramento, CA — It has taken nearly four months to apprehend a man who had been Sexually assaulting children a Sacramento thrift store. The suspect was identified as 38-year-old Cesar Ortez Ponce. It all began on May 3, 2024, when an unidentified woman contacted the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office to report that her 8-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted at a thrift store the previous day. Deputies spoke to the child, and she told them that she was playing dress up while her mother was trying on clothes. While trying on shoes, a man exposed his penis to her several times and manipulated it with his hands several feet away from her. When the girl was reaching up on a high shelf, the man crouched behind her and ran his hand up her inner thigh. The girl told her mother and the man fled from the store. Store security employees provided Deputies with significant surveillance footage, but the man was not identified. The case was sent to the Child Abuse Bureau for investigation.
On Sept. 27, 2024, store security contacted the Child Abuse Bureau and provided footage of the same man acting suspiciously. In the footage they provided, Ponce could be seen approaching an adult woman from behind while she was looking at items on a shelf. The man knelt behind her and could be seen putting his cell phone under her dress for 1-2 seconds, then quickly walking in the other direction. The woman was not identified.
On Sept. 30, store security again contacted the Child Abuse Bureau and provided surveillance footage of Ponce in the toy section of the store that afternoon. In the video, Ponce could be seen looking a children’s toys while a mother and her two young children were shopping nearby. A girl, likely 6-7 years old, could be seen playing and running back and forth behind Ponce while he was rubbing his erect penis through the fabric of his shorts.
The Child Abuse Bureau initially had difficulty locating Ponce, but he went to the store again on the evening of Oct. 3, and was detained by patrol Deputies. Child Abuse Bureau Detectives responded and served a search warrant at Ponce’s apartment, seizing several electronic devices. Ponce was booked at the Sacramento Main Jail for Lewd and Lascivious Acts with a Child Under 14 as well as Annoying or Molesting a Child Under 18.
Child Abuse Bureau Detectives believe that there are likely additional victims of Ponce who have not reported their assaults. Many people, especially children, who are the victims of lewd acts in public or indecent exposure are not immediately aware that they are being victimized. Like the original 8-year-old victim in the first incident, children may think what is happening is “weird,” but do not grasp the seriousness of the adult’s behavior. For anyone who thinks they or their children may have been a victim of Ponce, please contact the Sheriff’s Office Child Abuse Bureau at (916) 874-5191 or ChildAbuse@sacsheriff.com.
