A worker at an adolescent behavioral health treatment center in San Jacinto accused of perpetrating sexual assaults on girls there must stand trial for lewd acts on a minor and other offenses, a judge ruled Thursday.
Antoine Christopher Sims, 31, of Winchester was arrested in September following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation that began last year.
At the end of a preliminary hearing Thursday, Superior Court Judge Ronald Toff found there was sufficient evidence to bound Sims over for trial on two counts each of lewd acts on a minor, sexual penetration with a foreign object and oral copulation of a minor, as well as one count of statutory rape.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for Dec. 8 at the Banning Justice Center.
The defendant is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
According to sheriff’s officials, in September 2024, deputies were informed that Sims allegedly had engaged in sexual acts involving several girls under his supervision, prompting an investigation.
The sheriff’s department did not specify the defendant’s position or the duration of his employment at the behavioral health treatment facility, which wasn’t named.
“Over the course of the investigation, detectives identified multiple victims and uncovered a pattern of predatory behavior, involving grooming, inappropriate communication and unlawful sexual contact,” the agency stated.
The victims’ identities were not disclosed.
Sufficient evidence was ultimately procured to obtain an arrest warrant, and Sims was located and taken into custody without incident on Bachelor Peak Street in Winchester on Sept. 18.
He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.