Man who lived at East Palo Alto daycare sentenced for child molestation

(KRON) — A man who lived at an unlicensed daycare in East Palo Alto was sentenced to serve decades in prison after he was convicted for multiple counts of child molestation.

Norberto Renteria Bautista molested three children — between ages 5 and 11 — who attended a daycare operated by Bautista’s wife inside the couple’s home, prosecutors said.

San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Kevin Dunleavy sentenced the daycare owner’s husband on Tuesday to serve 24 years in state prison, with 1,530 days credit for time served in custody.

The judge also ordered 72-year-old Bautista to register as a sex offender for life.

His conviction was the result of an East Palo Alto Police Department investigation that began three years ago. On Feb. 1, 2022, a father arrived at the daycare to pick up his 7-year-old daughter.

Bautista’s wife told the father to never bring his daughter back to the daycare, prosecutors said. The girl had attended the daycare since she was five.

After the father asked why his daughter could not return, the wife said she had left the 7-year-old girl alone with Bautista. When the wife returned, she saw her husband molesting the girl, according to the district attorney’s office. The girl told her father that Bautista had molested multiple times.

Two additional victims also came forward, including one who had been sexually abused between ages 7-11, and a second who was 5-years-old, prosecutors said.

In July, Bautista pleaded no contest for felony continuous child molestation.