FROM: Nick Muyo, Public Information Officer   CONTACT PERSON: Tim McInerny, Deputy District Attorney  (408) 792-2876   For release on June 6, 2008   STEPFATHER WHO REPEATEDLY MOLESTED YOUNG GIRL SENTENCED TO 45 YEARS-TO-LIFE IN STATE PRISON   41-year-old Jose Maria Gomez was convicted of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts of assault by fear or duress on Wednesday, February 27, 2008.  He was sentenced to 45 years-to-life in state prison on May 30, 2008.    Gomez, now separated from the victim’s mother and family, is accused of molesting the victim, then 7-years-old, between September 2000 and September 2001.  The charges of “fear or duress” were added when it was learned that the defendant threatened to hurt or kill the victim’s mother if she reported the assaults to anyone.   ###