A 45-year-old Ceres man who was found guilty in 2019 of committing multiple sex crimes against a young girl was finally sentenced after an appeal for a new trial was denied by a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge.
Judge J. Richard “Rick” Distaso denied Daniel Louis Bonacich’s motion for new trial on April 19 and on Oct. 18 sentenced him to serve a total of 52 years to life in state prison.
Bonacich was arrested in 2016 and convicted on Sept. 5, 2019 of several charges including: one count of sexual intercourse with a child 10 or younger, two counts of oral copulation with a child 10 or younger, continuous sexual abuse of a child, lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 years of age, using a minor for posing or modeling involving sexual conduct, preparing or possessing an image of a minor engaged in sexual conduct and exhibiting harmful matter.
Deputy District Attorney Sameer Shukla prosecuted the case and detailed that Bonacich’s victim was the daughter of his live-in girlfriend. When the child was six years old, Bonacich forced her to engage in sexual intercourse and forced the child to orally copulate him. Bonacich continued to sexually abuse the girl she reached the age of 14. The girl testified that during the molestation Bonacich took “countless” photographs of her in the nude and while engaged in sex acts. He also forced the child to watch pornographic videos while engaging in these acts.
In searching Bonacich’s Ceres home in the 3400 block of Georgeann Place, officers found a flash drive with 59 images depicting acts between the child and Bonacich.
Bonacich waived his right to a jury trial and was found guilty of all charges by Judge Richard Distaso. Bonacich then sought a motion for new trial, arguing that he was innocent and claiming another individual had not only sexually molested the girl, but also that someone else had taken the photographs.
Following extensive briefing in this matter, former Ceres Police Officer George Woodward and Sgt. Julio Amador testified again as to a search of Bonacich’s home turning up flash drives which were found by Detective Carlos Quiroz to contain child pornography.
