A judge ruled Wednesday there was sufficient evidence to hold a Moorpark man for trial in a sexual assault case involving a 38-year-old woman with the mental capacity of a child.

Prosecutor Bill Redmond said Sean Carroll, 37, is charged with digital sexual penetration of an incompetent person and sexual penetration by force.

"When a woman says no, it's no — particularly in the case of a mentally challenged individual," Redmond said in an interview. "The law says that if you're aware of the disability, which he was because he had known her for so long, then the issue of consent is even a higher standard for the defendant."

Carroll is facing up to eight years in prison if convicted of the felony charges.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Edward Brodie, who presided over the preliminary hearing Wednesday, scheduled Carroll's arraignment for Sept. 7.

Carroll's attorney, Henry Snow, declined to comment after the hearing.

Prosecutors say the woman has the mental capacity of a child 10 to 12 years old.

The woman and Ventura County sheriff's Detective Gregory Tougas testified Wednesday about the events that allegedly occurred March 19.

During much of the hearing, the judge listened to two tape-recorded interviews in which Carroll talked with Tougas. Carroll, a draftsman, told police he first met the woman 15 years ago when he was 22. He said he didn't have any recent communication with her until last year, when he paid an Internet service $20 for her address.

She was living in a group home, and he called and arranged to meet her, he told police. Carroll asked her if she wanted to go shopping. When he picked her up in his car, he said he didn't have any money. He then asked if she wanted to go see his dog, he told police.

"It was obvious that she was very childlike," Tougas said to Carroll in one of the recordings.

"Yes, yes, in a lot of ways," replied a voice identified as Carroll's.

Carroll told Tougas that 15 years ago he dated her for two years. "I am attracted to her," Carroll is heard telling Tougas.

He gave Tougas details about his actions after re-establishing contact with her, including engaging in sex and using sex toys, which she asked him several times to stop using, Carroll said in the taped interview.

The woman, who said she was nervous testifying during the hearing, said Carroll choked and slapped her and pulled her hair during sex.

Tougas, based on his interview with the woman, testified that Carroll told her not to tell anybody after he drove her back to the group home and said that they "should just be friends."