Man convicted of molesting 2 girls in Costa Mesa while living in their home

Sentencing is scheduled for May 9 for a 47-year-old man convicted of sexually assaulting two girls while living with their family in Costa Mesa.

Nelson Anibal Saavedra was convicted Monday of molesting the girls from 2015 through 2022, according to court records.

The oldest girl told investigators she was assaulted starting when she was 6 when she was 12 years old and a classmate “nearly dragged” her to their principal’s office to report the alleged abuse, Deputy Dist. Atty. Alyssa Marie Staudinger said in her opening statement of the trial.

The victim’s sister said she was first assaulted once in second grade when she 7 or 8, Staudinger said.

When police went to question Saavedra at his job at a fast food restaurant in Newport Beach, he told them the older girl was “sexually aggressive” and came on to him, but he pushed her away, Staudinger said. He also told investigators he hugged the sister once while aroused, Staudinger said.

Bobby Shui of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, who said there were “no forensics” in the case that could prove Saavedra’s guilt, told the court his client and the mother of the girls worked together at the fast food restaurant. The mother was his boss, he added. The two lived in a crowded house and worked the same shift so there were no opportunities to commit the attacks.