Hearing postponed for man accused of child rape

The preliminary hearing for a Columbia man accused of sexually abusing a minor by force was delayed until February during a brief hearing in Tuolumne County Superior Court on Friday.

Eric Wayne Ray, 36, appeared in court via video from Tuolumne County Jail on Friday and did not speak during the procedural rescheduling of his preliminary hearing, a hearing which will determine if the prosecuting agency, the Tuolumne County District Attorney's Office, has enough evidence to bring his case to trial.

According to a Tuolumne County Superior Court database, Ray is charged with 10 felonies related to the sexual abuse of a minor. The gender, exact age and condition of the minor were not identified in court documents.

Ray is charged with two counts of sex with a minor under the age of 10, two counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14, two counts of a forcible lewd act upon on a child, rape by force or fear, sodomy by force on a child under 14, recurring sexual conduct with someone under the age of 14 and preventing or dissuading a witness by force or fear.

Ray was arrested on July 6 at Columbia Air Attack Base and has remained in the county since that time. He was being held on $250,000 bail at the time of his arrest.

The court announced in November that preliminary hearings scheduled in 2020 would be rescheduled to the next year. No reason was given at the time, though the announcement came following an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in the county and possible exposure of individuals at the court.

The preliminary hearing for Ray has been postponed multiple times since July. His attorney, Ashley Belden, was assigned on July 17.

According to arrest logs, Ray lived on South Airport Road near Columbia Air Attack Base and identified his occupation as “CWN-MIXER,” an acronym commonly used in firefighting aircraft circles as a “call when needed.”

At the time of his arrest, a base battalion chief told The Union Democrat in July that Ray was not an employee of Cal Fire or the state, and that he was employed with Perimeter Solutions, the retardant contractor for Columbia Air Attack Base.

Dan Green, a spokesman for Perimeter Solutions, contacted The Union Democrat and said Ray was never employed with the company.

“If he ever worked for Perimeter as a contractor, it wasn't directly with the [Perimeter], but through a third party service provider, and Perimeter doesn't track contractors used by outside companies,” Green said.

The preliminary hearing was rescheduled for 8:30 a.m. Feb. 5.