U.D. man convicted on sexual assault charges

A 25-year-old Upper Darby man who broke into a woman’s Milbourne apartment in 2022 and forced her to have sex with him on camera was convicted Thursday on rape and related charges.

Cesar A. Villeda Mejia was also found guilty of criminal trespass, sexual assault, simple assault and indecent assault without consent following a jury trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Mary Alice Brennan this week.

The 29-year-old victim testified through an interpreter that Meija had broken into her second-floor apartment in the early morning hours of Sept. 26, 2022. She said she woke her up to him touching her intimate parts and obligated her to have sex with him.

“He raped me multiple times,” the victim told Assistant District Attorney Meghan Rafter.

The victim said she had locked three doors that night: The main outer door for the apartment building, the door to her apartment and her bedroom door. Meija had used a tool to get past the main door and had “totally broken” the door to her apartment to gain entry, she said.

Once in her bed, she said Meija forced himself on her. She said she fought back initially, but “he continued, he just continued.” Meija also hit her in the head and called her names like “whore,” she said.

The victim said she recorded the rape with her phone at Meija’s direction as he vaginally and anally penetrated her. After he had finished and fallen asleep, the victim snuck off to a bathroom to take pictures and videos of the resulting bleeding, she said.

The victim said Meija was known to her and this was not the first time he had assaulted her. She said he had also raped her in July 2023, then beat her head against the steering wheel of her car and punched her in the head the following day.

Springfield Township police were called that day after bystanders witnessed the assault. The victim went to Delaware County Memorial Hospital to get checked out, but Meija had warned her in a text not to use any real names or “it’s going to be worse.”

The victim said she refused a rape kit and left against medical advice because Meija was outside, waiting for her.

She did not report the September rape to Milbourne police until Nov. 8 because she said she believed the assaults were over.

Defense attorney Jason Young argued in closing that there had been no corroborating testimony from friends or co-workers supporting allegations of any assaults and that medical records from the July 2022 hospital visit reflected no obvious signs of trauma.

He argued that the victim was the one in control here, demanding in texts that Meija do things like bring her dinner or, the day after the September rape, bring her tampons. He added that the very act of making the video was consent in itself, and there was no audio recorded of the victim saying, “stop” or “no.”

The ‘monster’

But Rafter countered that the law does not require a victim of rape or sexual assault to put up any kind of a fight and that there was corroboration of the allegations in the form of the videos and texts on the woman’s phone.

These included the bleeding she suffered, as well as condemnations against Meija in texts for hitting her and describing him as a “monster” who took out his “anger, resentment, fury (and) malice” on her through sex.

The overarching narrative here showed that the victim had good reason to fear Meija and any reprisals she might suffer for speaking out, Rafter argued, and that it would get worse, as he had promised.

“Rape is about humiliation and control, and that is exactly what the defendant got,” Rafter said. “He got what he wanted, when he wanted it, and the humiliation has continued for the victim until this day.”

The jury deliberated for about two hours Wednesday evening and another 40 minutes Thursday morning before convicting on all counts.

Sentencing has been scheduled for June 26 pending a psychosexual evaluation and state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board evaluation to determine if Meija fits the criteria for a sexually violent predator.