Man sentenced to 345 years to life in prison for child sex abuse, Sacramento DA says
A Sacramento County judge has sentenced a 43-year-old man to 345 years to life in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a girl over several years after he introduced her to methamphetamine use at the age of 11, prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Paul Burraston on March 23 and Sacramento Superior Court Judge Sharon Lueras sentenced him on April 30, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release Thursday.
Burraston was serving his sentence Thursday at North Kern State Prison in Delano after he was admitted into state custody on May 27, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The jurors found Burraston guilty of six counts of rape, five counts of committing lewd acts on a child younger than 14, one count of aggravated sexual assault on a child younger than 14 and 12 counts of committing lewd acts on a child younger than 14 by force, duress, menace or fear, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Burraston knew the girl from when she was 11 years old and that’s when he introduced her to meth. Soon after, Burraston began sexually abusing her until she was 18 years old, according to the District Attorney’s Office. She was 21 years old in 2019, when she reported the abuse to law enforcement.
Deputy District Attorney Catrina Ranum prosecuted the case against Burraston. His conviction included an enhancement for committing his crimes on multiple victims.
At that time authorities learned of the sexual abuse, law enforcement officials discovered Burraston was the suspect in a 2005 rape of a child, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office in 2018 revived that 2005 sexual assault investigation, which led to Burraston’s conviction in that case as well.
