Child molester? Or falsely accused? Here’s what jury heard in Clovis man’s trial
The trial of accused child molester Daniel Sedano wrapped up Thursday with Fresno County Superior Court jurors left to decide if the 57-year old Clovis man was a calculating abuser or the victim of false allegations.
Sedano, co-owner of a Clovis computer security company, is charged with four felonies, including continuous sexual abuse of a child, oral copulation of a child 10 years or younger, and rape.
He is alleged to have groomed his young victim by buying her gifts. showing her attention and taking her to concerts as a way to get what he wanted.
Prosecutor Vanessa Leona told the jurors that what Sedano wanted was clear: sex with a young girl.
The alleged victim, who is now 21, testified he first began touching her at the age of 4. She remembered that Sedano would refer to some of the inappropriate sexual contact as “hugs” and playing “horsey.”
“He would also tell her, ‘You are so pretty,’ ‘You are so beautiful,’ or he’d call her baby,” said Leona.
Sedano is alleged to have shown the girl pornography when she was a pre-teen. He also bought her lingerie and sex toys.
After the alleged victim contacted police a few years ago, investigators set up a series of phone calls between her and Sedano to try and get him to incriminate himself.
When the alleged victim asked Sedano why he sexually abused her when she was younger, his reaction was revealing, Leona said.
“Instead of saying something like, ‘What the heck are you talking about?’ or ‘I’m going to hang up on you.’ He didn’t say that, he called it a fantasy that spun out of control. That was his reaction.”
Jane Boulger, Sedano’s defense attorney, said her client may have used bad judgment, but he did not do what he’s accused of.
She portrayed Sedano as a good father and a veteran who was struggling with some mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
“He is not a monster,” Boulger said.
Boulger said that if Sedano was molesting the alleged victim since the age of 4, someone else would have noticed. She said Sedano’s estranged wife testified she was shocked to learn about the allegations. His best friend also testified that he doesn’t believe Sedano would do what he’s charged with.
Admitting to dating teen
Sedano’s attorney admitted that her client made the poor choice of seeking to date a teenager. That woman, who was 17 at the time, testified she and Sedano met on a website for older men seeking to date younger women, and Sedano took his new girlfriend to a concert in Los Angeles in 2017. Sedano invited the alleged victim in the current case, who was 18 at the time, to go along.
It was clear from the testimony, Boulger said, that Sedano was looking for the two young women to be intimate with each other and he would watch. But that didn’t happen.
“His family knew that he was not himself and then he goes to a hotel with two young women, it was not acceptable,” Boulger said. “But his fantasy was about a young woman, that was his thing, not little kids. “
If convicted, Sedano faces a maximum of 46-years-to-life in prison.
