A Long Beach man was sentenced to 120 years to life in state prison for sexually assaulting his infant relative and possessing more than 220,000 pornographic photos and videos of prepubescent children.
A Costa Mesa man who admitted peeping and molesting some victims was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Five days after being arrested for allegedly operating a marijuana honey oil lab, a Garden Grove man was rearrested on suspicion of possessing child porn.
Ryan Michael Booth, 32, received his super long prison stretch Friday after a jury on March 8 found him guilty of eight counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration with a minor 10 years or younger; five counts of using a minor for sex acts—all felonies—as well as misdemeanor sexual exploitation of a child and a sentencing enhancement for possessing more than 600 images of child pornography with 10 or more involving a prepubescent minor. Besides 120 years to life in state prison, he must register as a sex offender for life. “There is no mercy for you,” the girl’s grandmother told the court in a victim impact statement. “She will carry [this] with her for her whole life.” Between 2013 and August 2014, Booth sexually assaulted his baby female relative from the time she was age 1 until she was 2. On Aug. 29, 2014, a constable with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police conducting a child pornography investigation discovered images of a female approximately 2 to 3 years old. It was determined that the Internet Protocol address for the user who posted the images originated in Long Beach, so the case was referred to the U.S. Homeland Security Cybercrimes Center. On Sept. 5, 2014, Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Los Angeles Police Department investigators discovered more than 220,000 images and 2,000 videos of child sexual exploitation content, including photos and videos of Booth in sexual conduct with his 2-year-old relative, in his residence. Booth was arrested later that day. Investigators with LAPD discovered that Booth also sexually assaulted the baby girl in her Costa Mesa home, so the case was submitted to the Orange County District Attorney’s office. “She gets to grow up happy and free … you are going to pay for this,” the girl’s father said in his statement to the court. “You will never touch another child again.”
Jeffrey Robert Smith, 45, pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of first-degree burglary and single counts each of assault with intent to commit a sex offense and inflicting injury on an elder adult, all felonies. He also copped to multiple misdemeanor counts of touching an intimate part of another person, indecent exposure, peeping, disorderly conduct, aggravated trespass and lewd conduct in a public place. He was already a convicted sex offender when he was charged in August 2015, and part of his new sentence was he continue to register for life. Smith broke into at least three homes and touched two females and one male in sexual manners from May through July 16, 2015. At least once he touched himself outside a victim’s home. When Smith was arrested on July 16, 2015, he was naked on a resident’s porch in the 2100 block of Orange Avenue, Costa Mesa.
Wesley Hunter Thomason, 24, was arrested after Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue responded to a fire at a residence in the 2200 block of Avalon. While putting out the fire, Thomason was found in the backyard dealing with burns to his arms. Looking around the burn site, investigators determined there were items used in homemade labs to process marijuana into honey oil. Thomason was hospitalized and, after he was released, was arrested on suspicion of possessing the lab gear and drug paraphernalia to consume the oil. A search warrant later served at his Garden Grove home produced a cell phone with images of child pornography on it, according to police. He was rearrested Wednesday at a Long Beach residence for allegedly possessing child porn.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.