Fresno County judge accused of committing 2 sex crimes weeks before retiring

A Fresno County judge was charged Monday with two counts of felony sexual assault allegedly committed weeks before his retirement after 20 years on the bench.

Adolfo Corona pleaded not guilty at his arraignment before retired Tulare County Judge Joseph Kalashian. He was ordered to post $70,000 bail by Friday or face incarceration in the Fresno County Jail.

His attorney, Eduardo Ruiz of Fresno, did not respond by press time to emailed questions and two telephone messages seeking comment.

The charges - sexual penetration by force or duress and sexual battery - could bring an eight-year prison sentence and a requirement to register as a sex offender if he were convicted, Fresno County District Attorney Lisa A. Smitcamp said in a news release announcing the grand jury indictment and court appearance.

Corona is accused of committing the crimes on March 14. He retired in April. His State Bar web page listed him as still a sitting judge as of Monday afternoon.

Corona was most recently handling a felony and misdemeanor trial calendar. He had been re-elected without opposition in 2022 and his current term was due to end in January 2029

The next court date in his case is Nov. 14 and a trial is tentatively scheduled for January, the district attorney said.

Corona was a business lawyer with Dowling Aaron & Keeler Inc. in Fresno from 1986 until he was appointed on July 21, 2003, by Gov. Gray Davis. Corona had been a judge pro tem since 1992. He graduated from UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law in 1985.

In a 2022 Daily Journal interview, Corona was asked his thoughts about convicted or confessed criminals. He described himself as a sensitive person and said, "I don't want them to suffer, but there's consequences."

On being a judge, he said, "I don't deserve it any more than anybody else. I think I earn it every day." He added, "The authority I have, I know it's given by the people. I don't ever say that I'm the boss, feel powerful or that I'm ahead of everything."

As a felony trial judge, Corona presided over several sexual assault cases that were covered by the news media.

One of the most widely reported was in 2018, when he sentenced a child sexual predator to three years' probation with no tracking device after the victim's father pleaded with Corona to give the defendant, Hugo Rabson, a prison term after he had solicited and received naked photos of a 14-year-old girl. The father, pretending to be his daughter answering Rabson's texts, tracked down Rabson at a park where he planned to meet the girl, and made a citizen's arrest.

Corona said that Rabson had already served 301 days in jail before trial. He said he had considered ordering a GPS but decided against it, according to a report by the Fresno Bee.

He issued a 10-year restraining order to keep Rabson away from the girl and, over objections from the defense, ordered him to register as a sex offender.

In another case, in 2014, Corona set up an unusual court hearing in the jail to take a plea from a sexually violent child predator who was suspected of having tuberculosis at Coalinga State Hospital but would not allow doctors to test him.

After failing to get the man, Steven Gutierrez Reyes, to enter a plea remotely to the charge of failing to comply with a public health inspector's order, KMPH video shows Corona opening the door of the jail and ushering in his staff, attorneys and a bailiff to take the plea. They stood behind protective glass in one of the jail's two isolation cells, The Bee reported. But Reyes was disruptive, and the attempt failed.

Corona was born in Fowler in Fresno County and spoke in interviews of working with his family harvesting crops. As a judge he was active in the community. In 2019 he was honored by local broadcaster KMPH for Hispanic Heritage month. He said in the TV interview, "We would travel up and down the state of California, from harvest to harvest. I had a scholarship and basically a couple dollars in my pocket. And I tell folks here in the courtroom, 'I don't get tired. I'm not going to get tired. I've got work to do.'"