20-Year-Old Man Pleads Not Guilty To Sex With Teens In Lake Elsinore

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — A 20-year-old man accused of engaging in sex acts with two teenage girls in Lake Elsinore pleaded not guilty Monday to unlawful intercourse with a minor and other offenses.

Emilio Esteban Ronquillo of Riverside was arrested last month following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation.

Along with unlawful intercourse, Ronquillo is charged with three counts of oral copulation of a minor and one count each of sexual penetration with a foreign object and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, as well as a sentence-enhancing allegation of committing a crime while on bail.

The defendant was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Jeff Zimel, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for April 10 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

Ronquillo is free on a $30,000 bond.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Robert Thomas, in December, deputies at the Lake Elsinore station received reports of a sexual assault on a runaway girl, identified in court documents only as Jane Doe.

The investigation resulted in allegations that Ronquillo had facilitated the victim's flight and "harbored the juvenile for two days before returning the victim home," Thomas said.

He said deputies arrested the defendant for his alleged assault on the teenager, but Ronquillo was able to post bond and was released from custody around the start of the year.

"In January, another juvenile victim came forward and disclosed (she was) a victim of sexual assault by Ronquillo," the sergeant said.

No details were released concerning how the defendant had come into contact with the second girl, identified in documents only as "K.H."

The ensuing investigation culminated in his arrest in mid-February at a Hemet business.

Ronquillo has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.