Man gets 160 years in prison for sexually abusing two girls in Sacramento County
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- A judge sentenced Mark Boatwright to 160 years in prison for child sexual abuse
- Prosecutors said he sexually abuse two girls including one who was only 5 years old.
- He will be eligible for elderly parole after serving 20 years of his prison sentence.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge on Monday sentenced a Placer County man to 160 years in prison for sexually abusing two girls, including one child who was only 5 years old when he started abusing her.
On Nov. 13, Mark Lester Boatwright, 63, was convicted after pleading to nine counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14 years old, according to a news release from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
Boatwright also pleaded to five counts of committing forcible lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14, 10 counts of rape and two counts of committing sexual acts by force. His criminal charges included enhancements he admitted to, including taking advantage of a position of trust to commit chid sexual abuse against particularly vulnerable victims.
Judge Shauna Franklin sentenced Boatwright for sexually abusing the girls. Prosecutors warned Boatwright could be released on elderly parole after serving 20 years of 160-year prison sentence under California law.
Boatwright began sexually abusing one of the girls when she was 5, and the sexual abuse only worsened when she was 8, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said Boatwright told the girl, when she was 12, that he would kill himself if she told police about the sexual abuse to ensure she would continue to keep it a secret.
The other girl was 12 or 13 years old when Boatwright began sexually abusing her, according to the DA’s Office.
Prosecutors said investigators found sexually explicit images of one of the girls on Boatwright’s digital devices, along with contracts in which Boatwright detailed sexual acts he wanted the children to do. The contracts had edits from one of the victims protesting Boatwright’s demands.
One of the victims revealed the sexual abuse she suffered in November 2024, when she was an adult.
Prosecutors said Boatwright tried to run away when authorities showed to arrest him at his Placer County home, but Placer County sheriff’s deputies caught up to him and took him into custody. An arrest log published online on the Gold County Media website reported that Boatwright was arrested about 10:50 p.m. Nov. 20, 2024, in the 2700 block of Richardson Drive in Auburn.
Under California law, Boatwright will become eligible for early release at an elderly parole hearing after he serves 20 years of his prison sentence, according to the DA’s Office. With credit for time already served in custody, prosecutors said Boatwright will become eligible for parole 19 years from now.
Depending on a person’s conviction and prison sentence, an inmate may be eligible for elderly parole after being incarcerated at least 20 years and reaching 50 years of age, or being incarcerated at least 25 years and reaching 60 years of age, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Convicted offenders sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole are not eligible for elderly parole. Also ineligible for elderly parole are offenders sentenced for the second or third strike under California’s “three strikes” law and offenders convicted of first-degree murder of a peace officer or a former peace officer due to performance of their official duties, according to CDCR.
Boatwright on Wednesday remained in custody at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove and awaiting a transfer to a prison.
