![\"Dad](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ow1gioxxcmzlcvfv.jpg\")
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MOORPARK, Calif. – A California man was sentenced to one year in county jail for committing incest against his 18-year-old daughter<\/a> and providing her with alcohol.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sentence follows prosecutors’ push for prison time <\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Stephen Vincent Chavez<\/a>, 41, of Moorpark, was sentenced to one year in the Ventura County Jail and three years of probation after pleading guilty in May.<\/a> He also must register as a sex offender for 20 years.<\/p>\n The sentence came despite prosecutors’ request for the maximum three-year state prison sentence. The victim, Makayla Renee Settles, died by suicide five months after the assault, according to FOX 11.<\/a><\/p>\n The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said Chavez admitted to abusing a position of trust and acknowledged that the victim was particularly vulnerable at the time of the offense.<\/p>\n Assault occurred after daughter moved to California <\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n Settles had recently turned 18 when she moved from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Moorpark in July 2025 to live with her biological father, attend college and start a new life.<\/p>\n According to prosecutors, Chavez and Settles drank alcohol at a family gathering before returning home, where Chavez bought more alcohol and later engaged in sexual intercourse with his daughter.<\/p>\n Settles was hospitalized after the assault, and a rape kit confirmed the presence of Chavez’s DNA.<\/p>\n She died by suicide in December 2025.<\/p>\n Review found incest was only charge supported by evidence <\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n Before Chavez entered his guilty plea, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko directed a team of 10 internal prosecutors, along with outside legal experts, to review whether more serious charges, including rape, could legally be filed.<\/p>\n The review concluded that incest was the only felony charge supported by the admissible evidence, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n Deputy District Attorney Tessa McCarty said prosecutors believed a prison sentence was warranted.<\/p>\n “The People requested the maximum three-year state prison sentence because the defendant exploited his position as a father, violated his daughter\u2019s trust, supplied her with alcohol, and engaged in criminal conduct that forever altered the course of her life,” said McCarty. “While we respect the court\u2019s decision, we continue to believe a state prison sentence was warranted under the facts of this case.”<\/p>\n Settles’ mother, Carolina Sandoval, previously expressed frustration with the legal limitations of the case.<\/p>\n “Based on the charges, the most that he can get is three years and 20 years as a registered sex offender,” Sandoval said. “It just feels like my daughter’s life is only worth three years.”<\/p>\n Sandoval said that Chavez got her daughter drunk and took advantage of her physically and mentally.<\/p>\n “So if that’s not rape, I really don’t know what is,” she said.<\/p>\n Sandoval described her daughter as a “sweet girl” and an entrepreneur who dreamed of becoming an architect.<\/p>\n The Source: This story was written based on information from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, FOX 11, and previous reporting.<\/p>\n California<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOORPARK, Calif. – A California man was sentenced to one year in county jail for committing incest against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1184,7,9,8,2042,100,1181],"class_list":["post-375059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}