Man sentenced 595 years to life in prison for sexually abusing boy in Sacramento County
A 58-year-old man previously convicted of raping two teenagers in separate Sonoma County attacks has now been sentenced to 595 years to life in prison for sexually abusing a boy in Sacramento County.
A jury on Dec. 7 found Tajmal Sharrieff guilty of seven felony counts of committing a lewd act on a child, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release Monday. Sharrieff had three previous convictions considered strikes under the state’s “Three Strikes” law.
His latest conviction involved a 15-year-old boy who in 2016 reported to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office that he had been sexually abused by Sharrieff seven years earlier, according to prosecutors. Sharrieff was an acquaintance of the boy’s mother.
Prosecutors said the victim testified in Sharrieff’s trial, telling the jury about how he was forced to endure numerous sexual acts by Sharrieff.
Sharrieff was convicted in Sonoma of committing rape by means of force and assault with the intent to commit a felony and sentenced to prison in 1982, according to the news release. That case stemmed from two attacks on teenagers Sharrieff did not know.
In one attack, Sharrieff was wearing a mask when he approached a 13-year-old girl, threatened to kill her, dragged her down a driveway and raped her, prosecutors said.
In the other Sonoma County attack, Sharrieff also wore a mask when he approached a 19-year-old woman. Prosecutors said Sharrieff choked her after she refused his demand for oral sex, according to the news release.
Prosecutors said Sharrieff was involved in a 1986 Sacramento County attack, when he removed a window screen from an apartment window and climbed inside a woman’s bedroom as she slept. When the woman awoke, Sharrieff covered her mouth and told her to be quiet. When the woman screamed, Sharrieff left the apartment, prosecutors said.
On Friday, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Ernest Sawtelle sentenced Sharrieff to 595 years in prison for sexually abusing the boy. On Monday, Sharrieff remained housed at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove awaiting transfer to prison.
