A former San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office jail correctional officer convicted of committing lewd acts on a child he used to baby-sit has been sentenced to seven years in state prison, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
During Joel Olazabal Gudino’s sentencing hearing May 15, the judge also denied his motion for a new trial, Wagstaffe said. He has roughly a year and a half of time served.
Olazabal Gudino, 30, who started his employment with the Sheriff’s Office in 2016, was convicted of molesting a 9-year-old girl between 2012 and 2015 in March. He was 19 at the time and a neighbor and friend to the victim’s family, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
In December 2017, Olazabal Gudino also sent the victim various Snapchat messages that were sexual in nature, prosecutors said.
After 11 days of trial, a San Mateo County Superior Court jury found him guilty of two counts of lewd acts on a child and one count of contacting a minor to solicit lewd acts, but acquitted him of two other lewd act charges.
Wagstaffe said Olazabal Gudino’s prison sentence and permanent label as a sex offender meant that “justice was done.”
“This case was a long journey to be able to get to justice, and that justice was finally delivered — the fact that this child predator is going to state prison,” he said.
His previous defense attorney Paula Canny had said she plans to appeal the conviction.
“Wrongful conviction happens a lot more than people realize,” Canny said. “Just because a jury finds a person guilty doesn’t make it true, so in my opinion the jury is wrong.”
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