San Leandro man charged with sexually abusing girl he met on cellphone game
SAN LEANDRO — A San Leandro resident has been charged with sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl after they met through a cellphone game, and police say he admitted to taking notes on his “progress” with the teen while pressuring her not to come forward.
Bienvenido Penaranda, 27, was charged with multiple counts of forcible sexual penetration and lewd act upon a child. He has posted $100,000 bail and been released from jail, and isn’t due in court again until Aug. 28, records show.
The investigation started in March, when the girl came forward to an official at her East Bay high school, police said. This news organization isn’t revealing which school, to protect the alleged victim’s identity.
Authorities allege that Penaranda, a San Leandro resident, met the girl on the Mobile Legends game and that they started chatting. He eventually convinced her to meet in person and allegedly sexually abused her inside a car on multiple occasions.
After the girl came forward, police set up a pretext call between them. In it, Penaranda allegedly referred to her as a “piece of meat” and suggested they get a hotel together. He also tried to dissuade her from reporting what had happened between them, authorities allege.
“You have to understand, what’s going on between us is something serious. It’s not like you’re going to be grounded. You know the consequences of this,” Penaranda allegedly told the girl. He later allegedly added, “If something should happen, I’m not going to get in trouble like what happened to you … you know that right?”
When police arrested Penaranda, he said he believed the was girl was 16 and admitted to taking notes on his phone documenting his “progress” with the girl, authorities said. The notes included “the day I met her” and “the day we became partners in Mobile Legends,” along with brief annotations of their “first date” and “first intimacy.”