Trial is underway in the case of a Valencia man facing life due to child annoyance charges.

Jury selection started Wednesday for Yale Yurman, 71, a registered sex offender arrested for child annoyance allegations at three different locations in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Testimony is expected to begin Friday, officials said. He faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted of the charges.

Yale Yurman

Yurman has been in custody for more than a year, after he allegedly walked around the Santa Clarita Valley videotaping children without permission.

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station detectives were alerted to Yurman’s activities last June by Target loss-prevention officers, who received a report from customers and contacted deputies with their information.

Deputies were told a man was following a young girl and videotaping her while she was walking around inside Target located on Magic Mountain Parkway in Valencia in June.

Through proactive work by Target’s loss prevention, detectives were able to identify a suspect, Dubin said.

Detectives served a search warrant in the 23700 block of Hickory Court in Valencia. Residents of the Belcaro housing community in that neighborhood contacted KHTS over concerns with Yurman’s alleged behavior.

Yurman has several known aliases, according to the Megan’s Law website, which include Steve Simonian, Dale Orin Pettit and Joseph Abendana.

He has several convictions listed on the Megan’s Law site, including annoying/molesting a child under the age of 18, lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age by force or fear and oral copulation with a minor under 14 years of age by use of force or fear.

Evidence was recovered which showed the suspect had been following young girls and videotaping them on several occasions.

These locations were identified as Target, Walmart and the Real Life Church in Valencia.

Another location was the Santa Monica pier, according to a Sheriff’s Station news release.

California’s Megan’s Law provides the public with certain information on the whereabouts of sex offenders so that members of our local communities may protect themselves and their children.

The law is not intended to punish the registrant and specifically prohibits using the information to harass or commit any crime against a registrant.

Yurman is currently being held at Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles in lieu of $1 million bail.