‘Easy targets’: Disneyland worker befriended single moms to sexually abuse their kids, prosecutors say

The crimes were chilling, and so was the confession.

A former Disneyland employee — David Goodman, 25 — was sentenced to more than 125 years in state prison in California on Wednesday after he confessed to sexually abusing multiple children, prosecutors said. Goodman was convicted of multiple counts of child sexual assault on Feb. 28, Patch reports.

Goodman said in a detailed confession letter that “the best way to gain access to kids was by befriending single mothers who he described as ‘easy targets,’” according to Melinda Spencer, the deputy district attorney in San Bernardino County, who prosecuted the case.

As evidence during his trial, prosecutors pointed to a manual Goodman had saved on his computer called “How to Practice Child Love.” In addition to working at Disneyland, Goodman volunteered with a children’s theater group, according to prosecutors.

Goodman, a resident of Banning, California, had multiple child victims ranging in age from 5 to 11, prosecutors said. He committed the sex crimes in 2014 when he was 21. Prosecutors said the children of two mothers who were in their early 30s were involved.

Goodman was arrested on Dec. 19, 2014 in Yucaipa, California, after authorities received a report that a man was masturbating in front of two male children, 6 and 9, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Those two victims, as well as a 5-year-old female victim and the male victims’ mother, told authorities Goodman had sexually abused the children that day and at least two more times in previous months, the sheriff’s department said.

At the time of his December arrest, Goodman had worked at Disneyland since October, according to a Disneyland resort spokesperson.

Goodman was convicted of a handful of charges, including four counts of lewd acts upon a child, showing child or youth pornography to a minor and possessing child or youth pornography, according to San Bernardino County prosecutors.

At Goodman’s trial, a K9 named Dozer was used to comfort victims as they testified, prosecutors said.

This story was originally published March 29, 2018 at 5:19 PM with the headline "‘Easy targets’: Disneyland worker befriended single moms to sexually abuse their kids, prosecutors say."