Felon Charged With Sexually Assaulting Murrieta Girls

MURRIETA, CA — A parolee accused of sexually assaulting two Murrieta two girls was charged Friday with nearly a dozen felony counts.

Reece Thomas Kennedy, 23, of Murrieta was arrested Wednesday in connection with an investigation that began several months earlier.

Kennedy is charged with two counts each of forcible rape of a minor, oral copulation of an intoxicated victim, lewd acts on a child and contacting a minor with criminal intent, as well as one count each of unlawful intercourse of a child and furnishing marijuana to an underage person, with sentence- enhancing allegations of perpetrating a crime while on parole.

The defendant, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center, was slated to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

According to the Murrieta Police Department, in early September, a girl, whose identity was not disclosed, reported she allegedly had been sexually assaulted by the convicted felon sometime in July.

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The exact circumstances weren't provided.

Further investigation led to an arrest warrant being obtained, but detectives were unable to locate Kennedy at the time, police Capt. Jeremy Durrant said.

He said that after officers were tipped off to where they might be able to find the defendant, they went to the area of Auld and Maddalena roads in French Valley and located his vehicle, with him in it, along with "a second juvenile who had not previously been identified in the investigation."

Kennedy was taken into custody without incident, and the girl, who wasn't identified, was questioned regarding her encounter with him, according to the captain.

Detectives learned the second youth, too, allegedly had been assaulted, Durrant said.

The police spokesman said both victims are now safe at home. They had met Kennedy via social media, the lawman said.

Court records indicated the parolee has a prior conviction for statutory rape.