There was sufficient evidence to support the 15-year prison sentence imposed last year on a Douglas man who committed child molestation in 2012, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled this week.
Manuel Salcido was arrested in 2012 on multiple charges of having sexual intercourse with an 11-year-old girl. He signed a plea agreement the next year, pleading guilty to two counts of attempted molestation of a child under 15 even though he admitted to numerous incidents of sexual conduct with the girl.
Salcido was sentenced to 5 years in prison for the first count, followed by lifetime supervised probation upon his release from prison for the second charge. But on May 4, the appellate court affirmed a decision by Judge Tim Dickerson of the Cochise County Superior Court to revoke Salcido’s probation last year and resentence him to 15 years in prison.
“We have searched the record for reversible error and have found none,” the appeal decision states. “Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s finding that Salcido had violated the conditions of his probation and the sentence imposed.”
Court records show Salcido, also known as Francisco Camacho, was released from prison in August 2016. He did well on probation for nearly two years, despite being homeless part of the time. But in mid-2018, the probation department learned Salcido was using non-prescription opiates and selling heroin.
Salcido was later arrested on felony drug charges and his probation officer asked Dickerson to revoke the probation for the second 2012 molestation charge. That then triggered a unique provision in Salcido’s plea deal which mandated that he serve at least 10 years in prison if he violated probation.
The sentence stipulation didn’t stop Salcido’s defense attorney from seeking a five-year sentence when the defendant stood before Dickerson on June 24, 2019. On the other side was the Cochise County Attorney’s Office which advocated for the maximum of 15 years due to Salcido’s criminal history which includes 10 prior felony and 13 misdemeanors convictions since 1972.
Dickerson went with 15 years, then later sentenced Salcido to three years in the drug case. The drug sentence won’t begin until the 2012 molestation sentence is done.
The Arizona Department of Corrections lists Salcido’s earliest release date as August 2032 when he is 80-years-old.