SAN ARDO — Monterey County Child Protective Services contacted the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office on March 20 at about 9:45 a.m. to report it had received information about an incident involving the sexual abuse of a child.
At that time, the Sheriff’s Office Investigations Unit initiated a criminal investigation into the incident. As part of the investigation, the Unit contacted and interviewed the confidential juvenile victim.
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Through the course of the investigation, the Unit was able to determine the suspect was utilizing a fake name and then determined his true identity, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The Unit then located the suspect — Jose Ruiz Santos aka Rene Ruiz, 48, of San Ardo — and took him into custody without incident.
A search warrant was then served at an address in the 20200 block of Cattleman Road in San Ardo, where a forensic collection of evidence was conducted.
Santos was booked into the Monterey County Jail for multiple charges, including lewd acts and oral copulation with a child under 14 years of age; rape of a child under 14; sexual penetration of a child under 14; and continuous sexual abuse of a child.
Due to the repeated longterm abuse of the child, the current bail was initially set at $18.5 million.
“Currently, this investigation is ongoing,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Anyone who was a victim, has information to share or has additional details regarding this case is encouraged to contact Detective Daniel Hopkins at 831-755-3814 or Detective Sgt. Nicholas Kennedy at 831-755-3773 of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Sex Crimes Unit.