DA: Sunnyvale Sex Abuse Victims Were Younger Than 8

Two alleged victims of sexual abuse at a childcare facility in  Sunnyvale were of elementary school age at the time, including one who was 5  years old, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

The girls had been at the facility, Belen's Childcare Home at 790  S. Wolfe Road in Sunnyvale, at the time of the alleged abuse and eventually  told their parents about it, Deputy District Attorney Murat Ozgur said.

One of the victims reported being abused at the daycare between  Oct. 2, 2010, and Oct. 1, 2011, when she was 5, and the other said she was  abused between May 1, 2012, and this past Sept. 20 when she was 6 to 8 years  old, Ozgur said.

The district attorney's office has charged Jose Cristobal  Velandria, 68, with five felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts by force  on a child under age 14 in connection with the abuse allegations, Ozgur said.

Velandria is accused of abusing the children while he himself  lived at the daycare facility, a business operated by a relative of his from  out of the relative's home, Ozgur said.

Velandria was arraigned on the charges last Friday and is  scheduled to appear at a plea hearing in Department 88 in Superior Court in  Palo Alto on Monday, Ozgur said. 

He is being held without bail at the Santa Clara County Main Jail,  according to the jail's website.

The charges against Velandria include one count of lewd and  lascivious acts on a child under 14 involving the girl who was at the daycare  from 2010 to 2011 and four counts involving the second child there from 2012 to this year, Ozgur said.