After Daughter Commits Suicide, SoCal Man Sentenced For Incest

MOORPARK, CA — A 41-year-old man was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of probation after plying his teenaged daughter with alcohol and having sex with her, according to prosecutors. Following the incest, the girl took her life.

Stephen Vincent Chavez pleaded guilty on May 18 to felony incest and misdemeanor providing alcohol to a minor. Chavez also admitted to special allegations that he took advantage of a position of trust and that his 18-year-old daughter Makayla Renee Settles, was "particularly vulnerable," according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said the incident took place in July 2025 about two days after Settles moved from Raleigh, North Carolina to her father's home in Moorpark to attend college.

Prosecutors said Settles consumed alcohol at a family gathering, and Chavez bought more alcohol for them to consume at home where he engaged in sexual intercourse with his daughter.

After the assault, Settles immediately told her mother what happened and underwent a sexual assault forensic exam at a local hospital, according to the Ventura County Star.

Prosecutors said Settles died by suicide in December 2025.

"Makayla placed her trust and well-being in the defendant’s care, moving from North Carolina to California to start a new life with him. The defendant violated this trust and shattered the father-daughter relationship in an unimaginable way, conduct for which prison is the only appropriate sentence," Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Tessa McCarty said in a news release on May 18.

The district attorney's office said it performed an "exhaustive, comprehensive and thorough analysis of whether Chavez could be charged with rape," and is "confident that this case was properly charged based upon the law, facts and evidence presented."

After the sentencing on Tuesday, prosecutors said they objected to the court's sentence. They had requested the maximum sentence allowed by law of three years in state prison.

"The People requested the maximum three-year state prison sentence because the defendant exploited his position as a father, violated his daughter’s trust, supplied her with alcohol, and engaged in criminal conduct that forever altered the course of her life," said McCarty.

"While we respect the court’s decision, we continue to believe a state prison sentence was warranted under the facts of this case."

Members of Settles' family spoke in court during sentencing and provided victim impact statements, "describing the lasting trauma caused by the defendant's actions and the devastating loss of Makayla,” prosecutors said.

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