A New Jersey man arrested in 2007 for the 1995 sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl in Ocean Beach will be sentenced March 9 after pleading guilty to the crime. James de Santo, 37, faces a sentence of 15 years to life in state prison. Probation has been ruled out and Santo has agreed to accept the long sentence, according to court records. He will be ordered to register as a sex offender if he is ever paroled. DNA evidence in the attacker’s sperm was taken from the scene of the June 21, 1995, attack and preserved, although the science of DNA was not as advanced as it is today. The assailant’s DNA samples were added to the national database and the cold case received a match in 2006 pointing to de Santo. To avoid a problem with the statute of limitations, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against an unknown defendant even before the DNA was matched to de Santo. De Santo’s DNA was on file because he had been arrested in the past on a narcotics charge. The victim in the sexual assault case was called to testify in a preliminary hearing on Jan. 23, 2008. She was 24 years old at the time she testified. In 1995 the victim was a student at Ocean Beach Elementary School. The attack took place in a house on Narragansett Street. The victim testified she was home alone in the afternoon and was reading a magazine when she saw a man in a mirror who had somehow gained entry to the home. She said the man put his hand over her mouth, carried her to her mother’s bedroom and blindfolded her. She said her clothing was removed and that she was sexually assaulted. The man told her to count to 100 while he left the room. Later, the victim’s mother picked her up for a piano lesson, and the girl told her mother about the incident. The victim was then taken to Children’s Hospital, where the DNA evidence was collected. In accepting de Santo’s guilty plea, Judge David Danielsen dismissed other charges, including four counts of a forcible lewd act on a child. De Santo was arrested in New Jersey on June 27, 2007 and later extradited to San Diego. He remains in custody on $3 million bail.