SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — District Attorney Dan Dow announced last week that San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Craig B. van Rooyen has sentenced Marco Antonio Navabarrera (10/25/75) of San Jose, to the maximum punishment for his conviction of eight crimes of sexual abuse of two child victims between 2015 and 2019. He was ordered to serve 142 years and eight months to life in prison.
After completing their deliberations on February 16, 2023, a San Luis Obispo County jury found Navabarrera guilty of eight felony sex crimes against two victims who were young children when the crimes were committed against them between 2015 and 2019.
At the sentencing hearing, the 9-year-old and 19-year-old stood strong when telling the judge how the defendant’s crimes against them had affected them personally. One specifically described how their childhood was stolen from them by the cruel acts of molestation at such a young age and over a seven-year period. The foster mom to one of the victims told the Judge that her son, “would not be [the defendant’s] victim, he would be a victor.”
After hearing from the victims, while issuing the maximum punishment allowed by California law, Judge van Rooyen told the defendant, “You are a serial predator, you destroyed the family, you will face the consequences.”
“We applaud these young survivors for speaking out and having their voices heard. We hope that their courage to report and testify and the resulting long prison sentence will encourage other victims of all ages in our community to report and seek help from law enforcement,” said District Attorney Dan Dow. “We will hold child predators accountable and when they are convicted, we will do everything legally possible to remove them from society so that they cannot victimize a vulnerable child ever again.”
