A former Melbourne restaurant owner accused in 2019 of sexually assaulting a teenage girl inside the women’s restroom of his Wickham Road business has been sentenced to 364 days in the Brevard County Jail and 14 years of state probation after pleading no contest to a reduced charge of aggravated battery, court records show.
Daniel Riojas Jr., 38, entered the plea on March 16, 2026, the day his case was set for jury trial before Circuit Judge Kelly Jo McKibben. Under the agreement, prosecutors amended one count of unlawful sexual activity with certain minors to aggravated battery, a second-degree felony, and dropped the second count. McKibben adjudicated Riojas guilty and ordered him remanded into custody in open court.
The plea came nearly seven years after Melbourne police arrested Riojas on June 12, 2019.
The 2019 arrest
According to the arrest affidavit, the girl, who was 16 or 17 at the time, told investigators she was eating alone at Thai Thai, 2447 N. Wickham Road, when she went to use the restroom and was followed inside by Riojas, whom police identified as the business owner. She told police he sexually assaulted her in the restroom, including digitally penetrating her and forcing her to perform oral sex, before he pulled up his pants and left.
The teen told police she was scared, did not know what to do and did not consent. She called her mother from her car as she drove home, and her mother called 911, according to the affidavit.
Riojas voluntarily spoke with the detective and confirmed a sexual encounter with the girl, the affidavit states. He told police he saw her smoking an e-cigarette in a hallway near the bathroom and asked to take a hit, and that the two began kissing and went into the women’s restroom, where he admitted digitally penetrating her and touching her. He said he left the bathroom when his father began calling his name for help in the restaurant.
Riojas then asked the detective whether the girl was underage. The detective told him yes and placed him under arrest, according to the affidavit.
Florida’s unlawful sexual activity statute makes it a second-degree felony for a person 24 or older to engage in sexual activity with a 16- or 17-year-old. Riojas was 31 at the time.
Nearly seven years and dozens of continuances
Riojas posted a $15,000 bond the day after his arrest, and the State Attorney’s Office filed formal charges on two counts on June 28, 2019.
The Brevard County Clerk of Court docket shows the case was continued at the request of the defense more than 30 times between July 2019 and November 2025, at docket soundings, calendar calls and plea hearings. The case was handled by three judges during that span, Nancy Maloney, Steve Henderson and McKibben, and the court relieved one of Riojas’ attorneys from representation in January 2023. In June 2025, the court entered an order announcing a final continuance for the defense.
Bond hearings were held in May 2022, when the court set bond at $7,500 on each count, and again in May 2025, when Riojas was released on his own recognizance.
A September 2025 trial date was rescheduled, and the case was set again for trial on March 16, 2026. In the week before trial, prosecutors filed a motion in limine and the defense filed a motion to suppress. Neither was heard. The sentencing paperwork notes both motions were not heard because the case was resolved.
The sentence
Riojas scored 56.4 points on his sentencing scoresheet, which set the lowest permissible sentence at 21.3 months in state prison. The 364-day county jail sentence is a downward departure from that minimum. On the scoresheet, the box for a “legitimate, uncoerced plea bargain” was checked as the reason, and McKibben wrote that the departure was as agreed by the parties. The aggravated battery charge carries a maximum of 15 years in prison.
The scoresheet lists two prior misdemeanor offenses: reckless driving and driving with a suspended license.
Assistant State Attorney Francis D. DeMuro prosecuted the case. Riojas was represented by attorney Brynn Brito. Under a stipulation between the parties, Riojas received two days of credit for time previously served.
A Brevard County Sheriff’s Office remand booking document shows Riojas was taken into custody at the Moore Justice Center in Viera at noon on March 16 and booked into the jail that afternoon. The document lists his current address in Grant Park, Illinois.
Probation conditions
After his jail sentence, Riojas will serve 14 years of probation supervised by the Florida Department of Corrections. The court noted it has no objection to transferring supervision to Illinois once approved through probation, and both the state and defense agreed to the transfer.
Special conditions ordered by the court include:
- No contact, direct or indirect, with the victim or her immediate family, including through a third person, unless approved by the victim, Riojas’ therapist and the court.
- No contact with the victim on social media and no comments or responses to third parties about the victim or her family on any form of social media.
- A psychological evaluation, including a psychosexual evaluation, with a therapist approved by probation within 30 days of release, and completion of any recommended treatment.
- Submission to warrantless searches of his person, residence, vehicle and property by probation officers.
- A DNA sample for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement data bank.
- Restitution to the victim for medical, psychiatric and psychological care, with the amount reserved by the court.
Standard probation conditions also bar Riojas from possessing firearms. The clerk’s records show $851 in court costs assessed in the case.
Sex offender supervision conditions listed on the plea form, including a curfew, residency restrictions near schools and parks, a prohibition on contact with minors and mandatory electronic monitoring, were not checked. Aggravated battery is not among the offenses that require sex offender registration under Florida law.
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