Buena Vista County roundup: sex offense arrest, Alta domestic violence case
Undercover sex-offense allegations, a knife-threat domestic case and a federal prison sentence show Buena Vista County courts handling serious charges on multiple fronts.
An undercover online sting led to the arrest of Greg Morain, a 43-year-old Fonda man now charged in Buena Vista County with enticing a minor under 16 for sexual purposes and grooming. Court filings say Morain communicated from April 10 to April 28 with an officer posing as a 13-year-old girl named Emma, first on Skout and then by text message, where he allegedly discussed sexual acts, tried to lure the child to Fonda and arranged a possible meeting. His filings also say he had been convicted in California in 2014 for unlawful sexual conduct involving a minor more than three years younger. Morain was being held on a $20,000 bond, and Steve Goodlow was appointed as counsel.
In Alta, Claudia Rivera-Villegas, 23, was jailed after authorities say a domestic argument turned violent in the 600 block of Cherokee Street on May 6. According to affidavits, Rivera-Villegas grabbed a kitchen knife and threatened to kill the victim during the confrontation at the residence. The two are married and share two children. She was charged with domestic abuse assault with intent to inflict serious injury, held on a $2,000 bond and was subject to a no-contact order issued May 9. Court records also show Rivera-Villegas waived her initial appearance and preliminary hearing, moving the case forward without those early court steps.
Federal court brought a separate Buena Vista County case to sentencing for Carlos Castro-Izaguirre, a Honduran man whose record included prior methamphetamine delivery and illegal-reentry convictions. Judge Leonard T. Strand sentenced Castro-Izaguirre on May 8 to 30 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release. Federal authorities said fingerprint analysis confirmed he was Carlos Daniel Castro-Izaguirre. They said he had been removed from the United States in 2009 and again in 2019, had been convicted in Cherokee County in 2007 for delivery of methamphetamine, and was later found in Hidalgo, Texas, in 2017, where he was convicted of illegal reentry before another deportation in 2019.
The three cases, spanning district court and federal court, show Buena Vista County law enforcement and prosecutors pushing forward on sex-offense allegations, domestic violence and repeat-offender sentencing at the same time.
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