A 52-year-old Fontana resident was sentenced to 42 years to life in state prison on Tuesday, officials said.
A jury found Eduardo Manila guilty of eight counts of lewd act upon a child on Feb. 9, 2016, in relation to three victims who had come forward, according to a statement from the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office.
The case was opened in Sept. 2014, after a 13-year-old girl told her grandparents Manila had fondled her when she spent the night at his home with Manila’s fiancé’s daughter, prosecutors said.
The victim told the judge at the sentencing hearing that the assault will affect her for the rest of her life, according to the DA’s release.
“I will always have the reoccurring nightmare of the defendant touching me,” the girl said. “I will have to live my life in a way now that I have the recurring question of, ‘Will I ever be able to trust anyone again?'”
Manila’s fiancé’s daughter, 14, disclosed that she had also been improperly touched by Manila after her friend came forward, officials said.
As Fontana police investigated the claims, they discovered Manila’s stepdaughter had made similar accusations several years before, prosecutors said.
“I stand here today to tell everyone and my offender that I am no longer a victim, I am a survivor,” the stepdaughter said during her victim impact statement prior to sentencing. “I stand here today to take a stand for girls going through this, for girls that have gone through it and for girls who will go through it.”