Grand juries indict four people on child sex abuse charges in one day
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IDAHO FALLS — On Tuesday, the Bonneville County Prosecuting Attorney announced four grand jury indictments involving four people who’ve been charged wth various counts of felony sex crimes. Only two of the cases are related.
Because the indictments were brought before a grand jury, information about the incidents underlying the charges is sealed, so little is publicly available. This is done to protect the investigation and deliberation, and prevent witness tampering, according to the Facebook post.
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According to the Facebook posts by the prosecutor’s office, a grand jury indicted Cesar Giovanni Espinoza-Patino, 35, Haileigh Jo Mcomber, 24, Joshua Larry Nelson, 40, and Rocky Piccolo, 48, on Sept. 25.
EastIdahoNews.com reached out to Bonneville County Prosecutor Randy Neal for more information about the arrests and confirmed that Mcomber and Nelson are co-defendants. The other two are charged in separate cases.
Mcomber, Piccolo and Espinoza-Patino have all been assigned public defenders. The Idaho State Public Defender’s Office does not comment on active cases. Nelson has not yet hired or been appointed an attorney for the felony charges.
The Co-Defendants
Mcomber was indicted on three felony counts of child sexual abuse by soliciting a minor and two felony counts of injury to a child. She was also charged with three misdemeanors: disseminating harmful materials to a minor, dispensing alcohol to a minor, and encouraging, aiding, or causing a juvenile to come within its purview.
Nelson was charged with three felony counts of child sexual abuse by soliciting a minor and two felony counts of injury to a child. She was also charged with two misdemeanors of dispensing alcohol to a minor and encouraging, aiding, or causing a juvenile to come within its purview.
According to Idaho’s Sex Offender Registry, Nelson is also a registered sex offender stemming from a sentencing in April 2004, where he pleaded guilty to one count of lewd conduct with a child.
Newly filed court documents say that Nelson and Mcomber “did solicit (a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old) to participate in a sexual act,” “forced (a minor) to drink an alcoholic beverage,” and “forced (a minor) to ingest a THC edible.”
Mcomber is also accused of allegedly showing online pornographic videos to the 14-year-old.
Nelson is charged in a separate case with another misdemeanor for injury to a child. According to court documents, on July 26, the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office was called to a home around 1:32 p.m. for a report of child abuse involving a 4-year-old boy. Court documents indicate that Nelson is accused of grabbing the boy by the neck and hitting him.
Mcomber will be arraigned before District Judge Jason Walker on Oct. 13 at 8:15 a.m. Nelson will be arraigned before Mcomber on the same day at 8:45 a.m.
If convicted, both Mcomber and Nelson could face up to life in prison.
César Giovanni Espinoza-Patino
Espinoza-Patino was indicted on four felony counts of rape in which the victim was under the age of 16.
According to court documents, he is accused of raping a young girl while she was between the ages of 10 and 13 years old.
Espinoza-Patino will be arraigned in district court on Oct. 13 at 8:45 a.m. before District Judge Michael Whyte or Senior Judge Joel Tingey.
If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.
Rocky Joseph Piccolo
Piccolo was indicted on 16 charges, including:
- Three counts of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16
- Two counts of child sexually exploitative material that promotes, produces, finances, offers or advertises
- Two counts of possession of child sexually exploitative materials
- Two counts of video voyeurism
- Seven counts of visual representation of the sexual abuse of a minor
According to court documents, Piccolo is accused of raping a minor when they were between the ages of 12 and 13 years old. He is also accused of secretly installing a camera in a bathroom to film the minor while they were naked. Court documents indicate he may have “produced, distributed, received, possessed, or accessed” the video using the internet.
Piccolo is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 20 at 8:15 a.m. before District Judge Brendon Taylor.
If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.
Although they have been accused of these crimes, it does not necessarily mean they committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.