By Phoebe Glick
Standing accused of three felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor under 14, defendant Yuri Penermon appeared today for a pretrial hearing in Sacramento.
SACRAMENTO – Yuri Penermon—accused of performing lewd and lascivious acts with a 14-year-old child, his daughter—was held to answer here in Sacramento County Superior Court last week, with a pre-trial hearing set for Aug. 25.
If convicted, the crime is punishable by up to three years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000 or one year in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
During the preliminary hearing, Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Steffens called Elk Grove Police Officer Christopher Cahill as a witness. Cahill had received the initial statement from the victim in question in 2019, for a series of events that occurred in 2007.
When talking with Cahill, the victim alleged that Penermon, her father, inappropriately touched her on three separate occasions in 2007. These incidents took place in the family’s home—allegedly,
after a night of watching TV together, Penermon began massaging the victim’s abdomen and back after her mother had gone to bed.
He eventually moved to her breasts and began massaging there, pausing to remove her bra. The victim related that this had gone on for about 20 minutes before he asked if she was tired. When she said she was, he carried her to her bed and left.
The same thing happened the next night. The third incident took place several days after. Because the victim had just attended a track practice, she had multiple sports bras on, secured with safety pins for additional support. While massaging her, Penermon allegedly became frustrated when he could not easily remove her bra as in the two previous nights. After further massaging, he found the safety pins and removed the bras.
Cahill said that the victim did not report any other incidents with her father, but when asked if any other occasions of abuse were reported, he said the victim had mentioned that, on the first night, her father told her, “I used to touch you like this when you were little.”
During cross-examination, Alin Cintean, Penermon’s private counsel representation, questioned Cahill. Cintean asked why Cahill failed to speak to the alleged victim’s fiancé separately, or whether Cahill believed the victim had help or guidance in writing her statement.
To this, Officer Cahill responded that the fiancé had not been present at the incidents in 2007, so separate questioning would not have been helpful. The second question was not permitted by the presiding judge, Helena Gweon.
Cintean also asked why the victim would come forward years after the events had taken place. Cahill responded, “That’s usually something I don’t ask. What took you so long, or whatever, that’s not in general a good place to go with a sexual assault victim from the get-go.”
In a separate line of questioning, Cintean mentioned that a confrontation between Penermon and the victim had taken place recently, in which the victim told Penermon about the accusations against him; reportedly, Penermon did not deny any of them.
Defense counsel Cintean, a former prosecutor, pressed officer Cahill as to why he had not investigated the confrontation further, implying this lack of follow-up constituted an incomplete investigation. Cahill contended that detectives in charge of the case were interested in the earlier incidents themselves.
Cintean also revealed that the Penermon family had been embroiled in a contentious family law proceeding over custody of the victim’s younger sister. He claimed that the victim and her mother had made money demands of Penermon before speaking with the police.
While Officer Cahill had not been aware of either the custody battle or any money demands, he related that the victim said she had come forward out of concern for her younger sister, who was the same age she was when the incidents occurred.
She told the officer her sister had also been showing signs of depression and self-harm. The victim had also recently become pregnant, and Cahill mentioned that her “future [role] of being a mother” had factored into her decision.
Cintean argued the victim’s complaint did not meet the requirement of probable cause—that is, even given a formal statement submitted to the police and no denial by the defendant during a confrontation, the judge had no reasonable basis to believe that a crime may have been committed.
Judge Gweon determined that there was probable cause to hold the defendant over for trial, and scheduled an arraignment for Aug. 25 in Sacramento’s Department 62.
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An update to this, Yuri has plead no contest and is set to be sentenced on April 28th of 2023. There was a recording of when his daughter confronted him and it verified everything she put forth in her statement. Yuri was also asked if what was reported was accurate and truthful which he confirmed was.