Man, 76, Held in Assaults on Girls

A 76-year-old Meiners Oaks man has been arrested on suspicion of child molestation, and Ventura County authorities are investigating whether he allegedly engaged in similar crimes throughout the state dating back to the 1950s.

Carl Wesley Wiley, who sells tractor-trailers in Fontana, was arrested Tuesday by deputies, culminating a yearlong investigation, said Eric Nishimoto, a county Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Wiley, who is accused of molesting two girls under the age of 14 from 2001 to 2003, remains in jail on $5-million bail, Nishimoto said.

Wiley has lived in the Ojai Valley for more than a decade, first in Oak View during the 1990s, and then in Meiners Oaks.

During the 1980s, Wiley lived in Santa Paula.

He lived in Livermore, Calif., from the 1950s through the 1970s and in Hayward, Calif., in the 1940s and 1950s.

Other possible victims from those communities are being sought, Nishimoto said.

Although the statute of limitations for earlier crimes may have passed, other alleged victims could help authorities establish a pattern of behavior that would aid the current case, Nishimoto said.

Wiley, who is married, is described as 6 feet tall, 230 pounds with silver hair and mustache.

His booking photo is available on the sheriff’s website at www.vcsd.org.

Anyone with information about Wiley is asked to call the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department at (805) 654-2311.