Atascadero man convicted of drugging, sexually assaulting teenage girls
A San Luis Obispo County jury found an Atascadero man guilty of 20 felony charges related to his sexual abuse of four teenage girls in 2014 and 2015, as well as possession of child pornography and providing drugs to minors.
Jess Drue Brasuell was convicted following a nearly four-week trial, according to a news release issued Friday by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.
Brasuell was initially arrested in November of 2017, after detectives investigated a reported sexual assault involving a 16-year-old girl, Atascadero police said at the time.
Officers served a search warrant at Brasuell’s home in the 7100 block of Sombrilla Avenue and arrested him on suspicion of various felony charges.
The jury found Brasuell guilty of meeting a minor for lewd purposes, committing a lewd act on a child, rape of a minor by use of drugs, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, forced oral copulation of a minor, sexual penetration with a foreign object, providing harmful matter to a minor with sexual intent, photographing and filming a minor for sexual purposes, possession of child pornography, and providing narcotic drugs to a minor.
The District Attorney’s Office says the conviction was the result of Brasuell’s sexual misconduct with four juvenile females between the ages of 15 and 17. Brasuell was 56 years old at the time.
“We thank the jury for serving during this pandemic and for their efforts listening to this tragic and emotional case,” District Attorney Dan Dow wrote in the news release. “All of this sexual predator’s victims demonstrated remarkable courage by reporting the crimes and participating in the criminal justice process necessary to bring this predator to justice. These convictions should encourage all victims of sexual assault to report the crimes to law enforcement so that the perpetrators can be held accountable.”
The DA’s Office said Brasuell “faces years in state prison” for his convictions, and that prosecutors “will seek the maximum term of punishment,” though an agency spokesman was not immediately available for more information.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 30.
