Man Charged With Child Sex Assault Now Accused In 2 Rapes: Banning PD

BANNING, CA — Banning police say a man they arrested a year ago on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child is now a suspect in the rapes of two women.

Steven Roy McElroy, 40, of Grand Terrace was rearrested Tuesday in front of the Banning Justice Center while he was preparing to appear at a preliminary hearing for the alleged child assault case.

The investigation into the latest alleged rapes began on March 29, 2022, when the Banning Police Department received a call from a woman who learned of McElroy's arrest in the suspected child sex assault.

She told investigators that she and another woman were sexually assaulted on separate occasions by McElroy, on or about 2015 to 2016, in his Grand Terrace home, according to the police department.

Detectives subsequently interviewed both victims and a criminal investigation was launched, the department reported. An arrest warrant for McElroy was eventually granted.

The additional filed charges against McElroy are two counts of rape by fear/force, and two counts of assault with intent to commit mayhem/rape/sodomy/oral copulation, according to court records.

The latest allegations follow separate charges filed on March 28, 2022. In that earlier case, McElroy is charged with lewd/lascivious acts on a child under 14 and touching the victim for sexual purposes.

Both cases are now winding through the judicial process.

It's unclear what McElroy's relationship is to the victims, if any.

Jail records show McElroy is currently being held at Banning's Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Anyone with information about the cases is asked to contact the Banning Police Department at 951-922-3170