Jose Luis Meza Jr. sentenced to 18 years eight months for 2020 Oxnard sexual assault
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Jose Luis Meza Jr. was sentenced to 18 years and eight months in state prison after DNA tests linked him to a September 2020 sexual assault of a female truck driver.
Meza pled guilty to felony charges of assault with the intent to commit rape and forcible oral copulation and admitted to multiple special allegations including that he had prior strike offenses stated a press release Tuesday from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
On Sep. 14, 2020, a truck driver was sleeping in the cab of her truck in an industrial area of Oxnard when she was awakened by a man, later identified as Jose Meza Jr. of Oxnard, entering the truck detailed the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
Meza demanded money and then climbed into the sleeping area of the truck where he physically restrained the woman and sexually assaulted her shared the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
The woman resisted throughout the attack and was eventually able to escape and run to a local business for help noted the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
Meza fled the scene after the woman's escape stated the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
According to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, officers found surveillance footage from a nearby business that captured the truck during the attack and showed Meza exiting the truck afterwards while wearing a distinctive yellow sweatshirt and throwing away a water bottle.
Responding officers were able to recover the water bottle which was later tested by the Sheriff's Office Forensic Services Bureau and matched Meza's DNA explained the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
Meza was contacted by local police in an unrelated incident shortly before and shortly after the sexual assault and in each of those interactions, he was wearing the same yellow sweatshirt noted the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
On Aug. 13, 2024, Meza was arrested in connection with the attack.
"The hard work of our forensic scientist partners at the Sheriff’s Forensic Services Bureau has again brought justice to another victim who deserved it," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Brent Nibecker who prosecuted the case. "Because of their commitment to the victim in this case, our community has been made safer."
