Convicted Clovis killer accused of raping children

Fresno, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Valley man now accused of sex crimes with two children was a free man even though he drove drunk and killed a teenager a few years ago.

Justin Desatoff molested two girls over the course of several years, according to a search warrant Action News dug up. Prosecutors say it started in 2008 and only stopped for about a year -- when Desatoff was in jail for DUI manslaughter.

After a short police chase, Justin Desatoff plowed into an Old Town Clovis work zone and killed 19-year-old construction worker Lismar Montenegro. His blood alcohol content was .17 -- more than twice the legal limit for driving.

"May God forgive him because I'm not going to be able to," said Maria Quintanilla at Desatoff's sentencing in August 2014.

Quintanilla is Montenegro's mother and she asked a judge to sentence Desatoff to life in prison. But under California law, the max was four years, and Desatoff got two.

"(He) really got a break there," said legal analyst Tony Capozzi. "It's going to be a strike. Whatever possible sentence he gets now will be doubled. But he got away pretty easy on the first one."

The strike could be important now, but too late to help two girls who accuse Desatoff of serious abuse.

He got out of jail about a year after killing Montenegro and, according to the girls, he picked up where he left off.

A search warrant reveals one of the girls told police Desatoff started the abuse when she was seven years old.

Before the manslaughter case, his abuse had escalated, but it was only after he got out that -- in her words -- he raped her several times. She says he even held her down while she tried to get away.

When investigators confronted him, Desatoff denied the accusations. Capozzi says Desatoff could face up to a life sentence in this case because there's more than one victim.

"It's unfortunate, though, that other people had to be harmed by this individual," he said. "It's too bad he couldn't have gotten more of a sentence in the first case because that's a death."

Desatoff pleaded not guilty this month to eight felony counts.

His defense attorney, public defender Roberto Dulce, mentioned Desatoff has recently been involved in divorce proceedings and a custody battle, so he's looking into whether that had anything to do with the accusations.