LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The trial of a Lake County man accused of sexually abusing a young teenager is tentatively scheduled to begin next week in the Bay Area.
Derik Navarro, 40, is facing 16 charges for his alleged yearlong sexual involvement with the teen, beginning in 2005 when she was 14 years old.
The California Attorney General’s Office, which is handling Navarro’s prosecution due to a conflict of interest with the Lake County District Attorney’s Office, said the case is set to go to trial Monday in Marin County.
In April, a change of venue was granted in the case due to publicity and other factors, as Lake County News has reported.
Mitch Hauptman of Lakeport, Navarro’s defense attorney, said that while the trial is set for next week, he wasn’t yet sure if the trial would go forward on time.
“It looks like there’s a very good chance we got bounced by a Marin case at the last minute,” he said.
At the time of Navarro’s alleged sexual activities with the girl, he was a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy, but after an investigation that began in early 2007 he was fired and arrested a week later, as Lake County News has reported.
Because of the conflict of interest involving District Attorney Don Anderson – while he was still in private practice – having at one time represented Navarro in an administrative hearing regarding his sheriff’s office employment, the case was taken over by the California Attorney General’s Office.
Late last year, Deputy Attorney General Dave Druliner, who is handling the case’s prosecution, reached an agreement with Navarro in which he would plead guilty to one count of felony unlawful intercourse with a child under age 16.
Navarro would have served no more than three months in jail and would not have been required to register as a sex offender.
The Attorney General’s Office said the agreement was reached with the approval of the victim, now in her early 20s, and her family.
However, in January Judge Andrew Blum turned down the agreement, saying it was too lenient.
“It grieves me to have to make this decision,” Blum said at the time. “Trust me, I have two daughters about your age. This is not easy for me to do.”
In April Hauptman won a change of venue citing, among other things, media coverage and the very public condemnation of the plea agreement by Sheriff Frank Rivero, who had approached both the Attorney General’s Office and Blum in an effort to stop the deal.
Hauptman said the case had become “a circus,” and retired Judge Robert Crone granted the change of venue, concluding that there was “a reasonable likelihood that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in the county.”
Hauptman said the Marin court, which isn’t as busy as some other county courts around the state, agreed to accept the case after the change of venue was granted.
In January Blum had ordered Navarro to stand trial on all 16 counts. Hauptman said he had made an unsuccessful motion suggesting that some of the counts be dropped.
Hauptman said the case is being handled by Marin County Superior Court Judge James Chou.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.