(KTXL) — A man was arrested in Grass Valley in January on suspicion of child molestation, according to a statement issued Monday by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s officials said that on Jan. 19, deputies from the Sheriff’s Office Child Abuse Bureau arrested Elton Glenn Ward, 49, on 16 counts of lewd lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old.

The sheriff’s office said that the victims were female and ranged in age from 5 to 16 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.

Jazmyne Garcia is a survivor.

“So for years, from 5 to 12, it was just like, constant sexual assault. So, my mom would be sleeping or like if she’s at work, it would happen,” Jazmyne Garcia said.

Garcia said that Ward was living with them at the time. By age 10, Garcia said that Ward would provide her with marijuana. She said she would smoke and drink to suppress the trauma.

Garcia said she wanted to report Ward, however, he would always threaten to harm her and her mother. 

“At 12 hearing that, that’s really like, that’s scary. That’s scary to hear that as an adult,” Garcia said.

26-year-old Michelle is also a survivor. She said that the abuse also started when she was 5 years old, while her mother, Christina, was dating Ward. 

“It’s heartbreaking and it’s disgusting, and it angers me. And I think he needs to pay for what he did to these girls,” Michelle’s mom, Christina, said.

Now, these women are reaching out and encouraging any victims out there to come forward and help put Ward behind bars.  

“The MO seems to be that he would date these women who would have younger girls in the household already, and then would take advantage of them sexually,” Sergeant Amar Gandhi with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said. 

“It wasn’t just me, and I was afraid it maybe it might happen to someone else in the future. And I would hate for that to happen,” Michelle said.

According to the sheriff’s office, Ward was taken to the Sacramento County Main Jail and has his bail set at $1,600,000.

The sheriff’s office said that “detectives are concerned there may be additional unreported victims,” and that anyone with information about the case can call the Child Abuse Bureau at 916-874-5191 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-442-4357.