A local business owner is set to face trial next month after prosecutors accused him of raping a young child, using threats of deportation to prevent her from speaking out, and sexually abusing two of his nieces.
Jesus Rosales Morales, who owns Golden State Tree Service, is due in San Luis Obispo County court for a trial-setting conference on August 13, 2026, with proceedings expected to get underway later that month, according to court records.
Morales is charged with one count of forcible rape and two counts of committing lewd acts on a child. If he is found guilty, a multiple-victim sentencing enhancement could carry a minimum punishment of 15 years to life in state prison.
The most serious allegation dates back to an incident in 2010.
According to CalCoastNews, Morales had gone to his brother’s home and asked whether his young niece could stay overnight at his house. The girl did not tell her family what allegedly happened that night for more than 10 years.
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The allegation surfaced after Morales’ sister-in-law spoke with her children about separate legal matters involving their uncle. During that conversation, her daughter, now 20, disclosed that Morales had assaulted her years earlier, saying he had done it “differently to me.”
The woman said she kept quiet because Morales allegedly warned her that she “would never see her father again.” Her mother told reporters that Morales threatened to have the victim’s father, who was a legal immigrant at the time, deported.
After hearing the accusation, the victim’s mother called her husband at work and asked him to return home. Family members said he suffered a heart attack before leaving his job and later had a stroke that left him with permanent vision problems. The mother and daughter later reported the alleged 2010 assault to law enforcement, resulting in the felony rape charge.
In addition to the rape charge, Morales is accused of sexually abusing two other nieces from different branches of his extended family.
Court documents show that in 2024, a niece came forward to report that Morales had fondled her in 2017 when she was 14 years old or younger. Shortly after that report, a second niece alleged that Morales committed lewd acts and forced her to kiss him at the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles in July 2021. She was 14 or 15 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.
All three victims are now adults attending college.
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