LAKE ELSINORE, CA — A 37-year-old Argentine national who sexually assaulted a Lake Elsinore girl multiple times over a nearly six-year span was convicted Tuesday of 10 felony charges.
A Murrieta jury deliberated less than a day before finding Martin Ancamil guilty of four counts of lewd acts on a minor, three counts of sexual penetration by force or fear, two counts of assault with intent to commit mayhem and one count of forced oral copulation of a child. Jurors acquitted him of four related charges.
The panel went behind closed doors briefly late Monday afternoon following closing arguments in the weeklong trial at the Southwest Justice Center. The jury returned with verdicts early Tuesday afternoon.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Johnnetta Anderson scheduled a sentencing hearing for April 11.
The defendant is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center.
According to a sheriff’s bail-setting declaration filed soon after Ancamil was taken into custody, the victim, identified in court documents only as “M.L.,” informed her family and others in early July 2023 that the defendant had sexually abused her beginning when she was 9 years old. At the time of the revelation she was 14.
Sheriff’s investigators were immediately alerted.
Court records said the series of assaults occurred from November 2017 to June 2023.
In one encounter, “Martin Ancamil put his hand under the girl’s pants and underwear,” the affidavit said.
“The victim woke up to Ancamil touching her (privates) underneath her clothing, and his hand was cold, and it hurt her,” the document stated.
M.L. also said the defendant penetrated her, though not enough to cause injuries, according to the declaration.
“Ancamil is a native of Argentina, lives in his car, has no friends or family here and has an expired (work) visa,” the affidavit said.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Reese, deputies tracked him to Cambern Avenue in Lake Elsinore, where he was taken into custody without incident on July 10, 2023.
His specific connection to the victim was not disclosed, and authorities couldn’t confirm how long he had overstayed his visa, remaining in the country illegally.
He has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.
