Man Suspected of Molesting Elsinore Girl Arrested

LAKE ELSINORE (CNS) – A 57-year-old man suspected of sexually assaulting a Lake Elsinore girl was behind bars Wednesday. Randal Christopher Gilbert of Ridgecrest was arrested and booked into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on Monday on suspicion of lewd acts on a child and sexual penetration of a minor. Gilbert is being held in lieu of $55,000 bail. His case is under review by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, and charges could be filed against him Wednesday or Thursday. According to Sgt. Jeff Reese of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were alerted to a possible child sexual assault involving the suspect in October. An investigation was initiated and spanned more than four months before an arrest warrant was obtained, culminating in Gilbert being located and taken into custody without incident on County Line Road in Kern County on Monday morning, Reese said. The circumstances behind the alleged sexual abuse, including how Gilbert was acquainted with the victim, were not disclosed. Background information on the suspect also was unavailable. Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.