Child sex crimes defendant seeks bail reduction

Child rape suspect Jose Guadalupe Sanguino Cancino of Hermiston is seeking to reduce his jail bond more than $1 million.

His attorney, Mark C. Cogan of Portland, filed the 10-page motion with the court Dec. 21 asking for a hearing to reduce the bail from $1,250,000 to $50,000. That amount would allow Sanguino Cancino to pay 10 percent — $5,000 — and get out of the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton.

Cogan in the motion argued the current bail amount is excessive, Sanguino Cancino and his relatives would be hard-pressed to post more than $5,000 cash and he does not pose a flight risk. Police confronted Sanguino Cancino with the criminal accusations weeks before his Dec. 6 arrest, according to Cogan, and while the offenses carry decades of prison time, he did not take off or try to hide.

Sanguino Cancino has 14 siblings in the area who would make sure he goes to court, Cogan stated, and he would be able to stay at his brother’s home on W. Walls Road in Hermiston.

Cogan also stated Sanguino Cancino has lived in Umatilla County since 1998 and at the time of his arrest was “in the process of obtaining his United States citizenship so he could remain in this country permanently.”

The court set the hearing on the bail reduction for Jan. 3 at 2:30 p.m.

Sanguino Cancino, 36, faces eight counts of first-degree sexual abuse, one each of second- and third-degree sexual abuse and incest, and two counts each of first-degree sodomy and first-degree rape. The state has alleged Sanguino Cancino committed the crimes against one girl in 2005-2006 and against another starting in 2010 when she was younger than 12. Hermiston police has stated there could be more victims.

Sanguino Cancino also was one of four men the Blue Mountain Enforcement Narcotic Team arrested in 2003 for a drug deal involving cocaine.

? And in another sex crimes case, court records show Jakob Kerby, 19, of Milton-Freewater, pleaded guilty on Dec. 18 to attempted first-degree rape, a class B felony, and agreed to a prison sentence of six years, three months, although he will get credit for the time he served in the Umatilla County Jail since his arrest on June 1, and he will be eligible for time off the sentence for good behavior.

The district attorney’s office agreed to dismiss charges of first-degree sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration. Circuit Judge Jon Lieuallen sentences Kerby on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in Pendleton.