Colusa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Thompson said there was sufficient evidence for a former Grimes resident to stand trial for the continuous sexual abuse of children.
Phillip Jeffords Andreotti, 46, of Ocean Park, Wash., is accused of sexually abusing two girls inside his home for several years while living in Colusa County.
The children were ages 8 and 11 when the abuse began with the youngest child, nearly two decades ago, according to testimony at Andreotti’s preliminary hearing.
Both victims are now adults, but California Assembly Bill 218, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2019, greatly expanded the rights of childhood sexual abuse victims to seek justice for the crimes perpetrated against them by adults and caregivers who had access to them. Prosecutors can now bring charges until the victims are age 40, and victims who were sexually abused as children can also bring a civil action against their abuser until the age of 40, according to the law.
Colusa County Sheriff’s Detective Christopher Doble, at the Nov. 14 hearing, testified the youngest victim eventually told a close friend that Andreotti abused her approximately 100 times over several years through conditioning and normalizing the behavior, which included oral copulation and intercourse.
The older victim eventually told her husband of the sexual abuse she reportedly endured, according to the testimony of Sheriff’s Sgt. Matthew Purcell.
Both victims told law enforcement the abuse ended for each around age 12, according to testimony.
Andreotti was under investigation for sex crimes against children since 2021. He was arrested on a warrant at his Washington home on Aug. 26, returned to California, and has remained in custody in the Colusa County Jail on $1 million bail.
He is charged with two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child, each carrying a penalty in California of 16 years in prison, and two special allegations for being a felon.
He is scheduled to enter a plea on the charges on Dec. 5. â–