Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Edwin H.

Opinion

PERLUSS, P. J.

A 32-year-old man who claims to be in love with a 12-year-old child living in his household engages in tongue-to-tongue or French kissing with her on at least three occasions. Is it a permissible inference that this behavior, although inappropriate, was not sexual in nature or is the only reasonable inference under these circumstances that the man kissed the child “with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desires” of himself or her within the meaning of Penal Code section 288? Contrary to the juvenile court’s implied finding,…