A Petaluma man who served as a Taekwondo instructor has been arrested on suspicion of lewd acts with children, police said on Saturday.
Luis Menjivar Chicas, 48, of Petaluma, was arrested on a felony arrest warrant Saturday following a traffic stop, police said. The warrant stemmed from three related investigations, two by Petaluma police and one by Santa Rosa police.
In 2024, Santa Rosa police began investigating Chicas after receiving a report of an alleged sexual assault involving a minor victim, with two additional victims reporting they had been allegedly assaulted by Chicas while they were minors and living in Santa Rosa.
Police said that there was not enough evidence to prosecute Chicas after the 2024 investigation.
In January of 2026, Petaluma police began investigating after a report was made that Chicas was suspected of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old. While investigating this report, Petaluma police learned of the investigation conducted by Santa Rosa police.
A few months later in April, Petaluma police received an additional report that alleged Chicas had sexually assaulted two additional minor victims over the course of multiple years. According to police, the victims said that Chicas was renting a room in their family home when the assaults allegedly occurred.
Police additionally discovered that he was a Taekwondo instructor, and said they are investigating if Chicas was actively instructing students at the time of his arrest.
All three investigations were forwarded to Sonoma County prosecutors, and an arrest warrant was issued, leading to the traffic stop and subsequent arrest.
Chicas has been charged with multiple felonies, including lewd acts with children, assault with the intent to commit a felony upon a juvenile, continual sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, lewd acts with a child by force or fear and lewd acts with a child under the age of 14, officials said.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and ask anyone in the community with relevant information to contact detectives.