MARTINEZ — An Antioch man who opened his home to children in need, then sexually abused them for years, was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Simon Chavez Sr., 69, pleaded no contest to child molestation counts and was formally sentenced on Dec. 19, records show. The sentence was the result of a plea deal between Contra Costa prosecutors and Chavez Sr., who was originally charged in 2019.
The prosecution was upsetting and scandalous. Originally charged with dozens of offenses, Chavez Sr. — along with his son, a former prison corrections officer — were accused of molesting girls in Chavez’s care for years.
At least one of Chavez Sr.’s alleged victims was younger than 10, and one said that molestation started when she was 11 and continued until she was 17. Adding to the outrage were revelations that Contra Costa County Children and Family Services found evidence of sexual abuse at the home, yet foster children continued to be sent there for another six years, until the victims began speaking up.
Chavez Sr.’s son, Simon Chavez Jr., eventually took a six-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to sexual abuse of a single victim.
In 2013, Chavez Jr., 35, told an investigator with Children and Family Services that he’d inappropriately kissed a teen foster girl under his care, according to the testimony of an Antioch police detective. Both the defendant and the girl denied at the time that anything more had taken place.
A girl known in court records as Jane Doe 1 told police that when she was 11, Chavez Jr. began making sexual advances toward her. The molestation started soon after and lasted until she turned 17 and left the foster home, according to court records.
One day, when Jane Doe 1 was 13, Chavez Sr. walked in on Chavez Jr. raping her, police testified. He began acting angry, grabbed the girl and took her away. But instead of bringing her to safety, Chavez Sr. brought the girl into his own bedroom, she later told police.
“(Chavez Sr.) said that she was going to do with him what she did with Simon Jr.,” Antioch police Detective Kelly Inabnett testified at the 2020 preliminary hearing. From then on, Chavez Sr. also began raping the girl at least once a week for the next four years, Inabnett testified.
The allegations came to light in May 2019, when Jane Doe 1’s relative discovered a note in her purse from Chavez Jr. The note was several years old, addressed to “Honey Bunny” and had references to the girl’s “sexy body” and other suggestive innuendo. The aunt told Children and Family Services, which in turn informed Antioch police, who in turn interviewed every girl who’d lived at the house, Inabnett testified.
Chavez Jr.’s plea deal was finalized in 2022, and he has been released from prison. Chavez Sr. remains in the Contra Costa jail system, pending a transfer to state prison.
