April trial set for a Fairfield man, 32, accused of multiple child sex crimes

A Fairfield man charged with multiple counts of child sex assaults will face an April trial in Solano County Superior Court.

Felipe Rios-Angulo, 32, appeared Wednesday morning in Department 9 for a trial and heard Judge Carlos R. Gutierrez order him to return for a trial management conference at 8:30 a.m. April 1 and for the trial at 9 a.m. April 6 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.

Rios-Angulo is represented by criminal defense attorney Vincent Maher.

A Mexican national, RiosAngulo, whose date with a jury has been delayed and previously rescheduled over the past year, in part because of the pandemic, is accused of continued sexual abuse of a child under 14 and six counts of lewd acts with a child 14 or 15 years old, among other charges.

His latest court proceed- ing follows an early January 2019 arraignment on the charges after a December 2018 preliminary hearing.

During the arraignment, Maher noted that his client had been arrested in Sacramento by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rios-Angulo posted a $160,000 bond and was released but he still faces possible deportation.

Maher said that the bond and a previous $255,000 bond related to the sex abuse case had “crippled my client and his family,” and asked the judge, asserting his client was not a flight risk, not to impose an increase in bail in the abuse case.

Citing testimony from the Dec. 4 preliminary hearing, Maher further characterized some of the District Attorney’s charges as vague, adding that the DA’s investigation and the information it yielded may have been inconsistent with the police report.

Gutierrez denied the DA’s request for a bail increase but reminded Rios-Angulo, who remains out of custody, about an existing restraining order not to go near the victim or her family.

In May 2018, Rios-Angulo pleaded not guilty to 18 charges, all felonies, and all involving the same child at various times between 2016 and 2017.

Court records indicate the DA filed a complaint on May 2, 2018. Shortly afterward, on June 21, the court issued a subpoena for records held by the FairfieldSuisun Unified School District. Rios-Angulo posted the $255,000 bond on June 26.

If convicted on all the charges, Rios-Angulo faces a lengthy state prison sentence.