Originally published in the Daily Republic on February 18, 2016 By Jess Sullivan.
A man who befriended and then sexually assaulted 11 young girls ranging in age from 5 to 15 years old was found guilty Wednesday of 17 felonies and will likely be sent to prison for the rest of his life.
Steven Sherwood, 51, befriended neighbors and friends with young children, according to testimony during his four-week jury trial.
Sherwood for years would take the young girls in the families, mostly Spanish-speaking families, to the library, parks or out for pizza or to amusement parks. He often hosted garage sales at his Garfield Street home drawing families and children with many toys and trinkets he had for sale.
Sherwood was arrested in 2014 by Fairfield police officers.
What began as a single victim being discovered with Sherwood by happenstance at a vacant home where he was doing some construction work led to weeks of investigation that turned up at least 11 victims.
Police found children’s toys in his bedroom along with a lot of young girls’ clothing and underwear. They also found pornographic pictures and videos of Sherwood with some of his victims.
Prosecutor Mary Nguyen, who led the case against Sherwood, said he faces a 115-years-to-life prison sentence when he is sentenced March 22.
After the verdicts were announced, Judge Wendy G. Getty said she would arrange for Spanish language interpreters to be on hand for the sentencing to allow for family members to express and understand the damaging events they have endured.
Sherwood has been jailed since his arrest.
His defense attorney claimed the 11 girls who testified about the depraved and violent crimes were all lying as part of some sort of ill-defined conspiracy against Sherwood.
Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jsullivandr.
Jess Sullivan has covered the criminal justice system in Solano County for several years. He was an embedded reporter in Iraq in 2003.
