Man convicted of 12 child sexual assault charges sentenced to 41 years to life

A Sacramento man was sentenced to 41 years to life in prison on Friday for multiple charges of child sexual assault, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Thomas Frederick Leonard, 69, was charged in November 2017 with 12 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under that age of 14 and one count of sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10. Leonard lived in an apartment with his girlfriend and her 6-year-old daughter.

In September 2016, the daughter told her mother that Leonard had touched her inappropriately and made her watch “illegal videos.” The mother took the child to UC Davis Medical Center emergency room, where the girl said the abuse had been happening for months.

Leonard told police that the daughter had been sexually assaulting him and that he was only disciplining her to make her stop. Police later found web searches for child pornography on his computer.

A jury found Leonard guilty of 12 of the 13 counts on Aug. 29, acquitting him of one lewd and lascivious act.