Man arrested in child molestation case

Visalia police have arrested a 74-year-old man suspected of molesting a 3-year-old girl who turned up missing briefly Monday night.

At 9 p.m., police received a report of a girl missing from a home in the 400 block of South Garden Street.

After a brief search, police found the child in the home of a neighbor, Joaquin Ruiz. Police spoke to the girl, who told them that Ruiz had sexually molested her, Visalia Police Sgt. David Jarrett said.

Man gets life for toddler's kidnapping, rape in 2007

The woman broke down in tears yesterday when the man convicted of abducting and sexually assaulting her then-14-month-old daughter was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Randy L. Dillon, 45, was convicted April 10 of attempted murder, rape, kidnapping and burglary. Jurors in that second trial found him guilty of breaking into the woman's Zanesville home on the night of March 13, 2007, and stealing her toddler.

Dillon then drove the child about 10 miles in a stolen van before assaulting her and leaving her along a busy rural highway.