A worker at an adolescent behavioral health treatment center accused of perpetrating sexual assaults on girls housed at the San Jacinto facility was charged Monday with lewd acts on a minor and other offenses.
Antoine Christopher Sims, 31, of Winchester was arrested Thursday following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation that began last year.
Along with the two lewd acts counts, Sims is charged with two counts each of sexual penetration with a foreign object and oral copulation of a minor, as well as one count of statutory rape.
He pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Monday before Superior Court Judge Jay Kiel, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Oct. 2 at the Banning Justice Center.
The defendant is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
According to sheriff's officials, last September, deputies were informed that Sims allegedly had engaged in sexual acts involving several girls under his supervision, prompting an investigation.
The sheriff's department did not specify the defendant's position or the duration of his employment at the behavioral health treatment facility, which wasn't named.
"Over the course of the investigation, detectives identified multiple victims and uncovered a pattern of predatory behavior, involving grooming, inappropriate communication and unlawful sexual contact," the agency stated.
The victims' identities were not disclosed.
Sufficient evidence was ultimately procured to obtain an arrest warrant, and Sims was located and taken into custody without incident on Bachelor Peak Street in Winchester Thursday morning, sheriff's official said.
He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.