19-year-old gets probation and GPS monitoring for Yolo County child sex abuse
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- A 19-year-old man was sentenced to 18 months of GPS monitoring and probation for sexually abusing a child.
- He was 15 years old when the crimes were committed and prosecuted as a juvenile.
- Prosecutors said he groomed the 8-year-old child for sexual abuse.
A Yolo Superior Court judge sentenced a 19-year-old man convicted as a juvenile offender to 18 months of GPS monitoring and probation for sexually abusing an 8-year-old child he “groomed.”
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office asked the court to place the juvenile offender convicted of violent sexual felonies in a secure track facility that provides treatment in a custodial setting. Alternatively, the prosecutors asked the court to order him to serve six years in custody at the county’s Juvenile Hall, according to a news release from the District Attorney’s Office.
At the Oct. 8 sentencing hearing, Judge Tom Dyer said California law requires the court to focus on the rehabilitation of the defendant who was 15 years old when he committed the sexual abuse, according to the D.A.’s Office.
Dyer said secure track, also known as a secure youth treatment facility, was not an option because it does not have any programming that could rehabilitate the defendant.
“This is an example of the law placing the criminal offender first, even after committing a violent sexual assault, and the victims of these crimes last,” District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in the news release. “Victims are routinely ignored in the criminal justice system. Ignoring them is not justice, it is wrong. The (state) legislature should put victims of crime first and provide fixes to these issues.”
In 2020, California Senate Bill 823 directed the closure of its state-run juvenile facilities and shifted funding and responsibility for young offenders to the 58 counties. The Department of Juvenile Justice was shut down for good in 2023.
Reisig’s prosecutors said juvenile offenders requiring a greater level of supervision and services could be sent to a secure track facility, but not every county has such a facility and not all facilities can treat sex offenders.
In July, the juvenile defendant was convicted of the violent sexual felonies, including forcible child molestation. Prosecutors said his criminal charges, if he was prosecuted as an adult, would’ve been considered strikes under California’s “Three Strikes” law and resulted in a “significant” prison sentence and a requirement to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Before 2019, the convicted 19-year-old man could have been prosecuted as an adult. The state legislature changed that law, which now prohibits prosecuting anyone younger than 16 as an adult regardless of the alleged crime, according to the DA’s Office.
Prosecutors said evidence presented in the defendant’s trial showed that he “groomed” and molested two other family members under the age of 10, and the sexual abuse he committed all occurred while he was spending time with his young family members. The defendant testified in his trial that nothing happened.
The convicted man served 13 days in custody before his trial. Prosecutors said state law requires the court to only impose the least restrictive punishment, even for violent sexual crimes, and he will not have any legal obligation to register as a sex offender.
