Next month’s scheduled trial for a Davis man accused of sexually assaulting a developmentally disabled teenage boy at a local library has been postponed until July at the defense attorney’s request.
Dennis Lee Azevedo, 60, has pleaded not guilty to 14 felony charges including forcible oral copulation on a minor, sodomy of a minor by use of force, and allegations that the acts were committed upon a mentally, developmentally or physically disabled person.
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Dennis Lee Azevedo. Courtesy photo
His trial is scheduled to begin July 17 before Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg.
According to testimony from Azevedo’s preliminary hearing last summer, the boy, then 14, disclosed to a teacher and police that he had been having regular sexual encounters with a man in the bathroom of the Stephens Branch Library on East 14th Street. He said he had met the man near the library’s teen section, and that the man had followed him to the restroom.
Investigators later identified Azevedo as the suspect. During a video-recorded police interview, Azevedo admitted he “interacted” with the teen over a 10-month period, but said he believed the boy was older, the encounters consensual and that it was the teen who followed him to the bathroom each time.
Azevedo’s attorney, Vincent Maher, filed a motion to dismiss the charges, citing insufficient evidence of force and knowledge of the boy’s age and developmental status. Visiting Judge W. Arvid Johnson denied the motion at a hearing last week.
Azevedo remains in Yolo County Jail custody with bail set at $1.65 million.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
