Former Victory Outreach Church choir director convicted in 2021 of sexually abusing a teenager

A former director of a San Ysidro church choir who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl who was a member of the choir was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday.

In addition to his two-year prison sentence, 28-year-old Rafael Magana must register as a sex offender.

San Diego police said Magana, who was 25 at the time and worked at Victory Outreach Church, drove the girl to a baby shower and back home on the day of the attack in November 2021.

After the baby shower, police say Magana drove the girl to the Paradise Hills neighborhood, where he parked the car on Reo Drive, sexually assaulted her in the car, and then drove the girl home.

The victim did not report the attack to police until March last year due to what police described as “a confluence of factors.”

Magana was arrested last August. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to lewd treatment of a child.

At the sentencing hearing, Assistant District Attorney Zachary Wallace asked for the maximum possible sentence of three years in prison, citing the “extreme emotional and psychological trauma that Mr. Magana inflicted on the victim.”

The prosecutor also alleged that Magana exploited the girl through his position as the victim’s choir director, and said Magana had previously been convicted in juvenile court of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 that occurred when he was 15 years old.

The victim, now 18, said in court that she “suffered in silence” in the years following the incident.

“On the night of November 6, my life would change forever,” she said. “That night, my innocence was stolen from me. That night would be the first of many nights in which I would question myself and my self-worth.”

Earlier this month, prosecutors also charged the church’s pastor, Eric Manuel Merino, with failing to notify police or child welfare services about the abuse after it was reported to him, violating his legal duty to report. If convicted, he faces up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Prosecutors have not said exactly how the abuse was reported to Merino, but a spokesman for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said Merino was told Magana committed the abuse. According to the district attorney’s office, people in certain professions are required under California law to report such incidents, and failure to do so can result in criminal consequences.

Victory Outreach Church has also been associated with activism that supports the far-right. In February, the church was listed as a supporter of the “Take Our Border Back” campaign, whose speakers and participants are known for their extreme and racist rhetoric.

City News Service contributed to this report.