Best Defender Blog

SANTA ANA - A registered sex offender was sentenced today to six years in state prison for molesting a 5-year-old boy in a public restroom. Nicholas James Needham, 28, Laguna Beach, pleaded guilty Oct. 14, 2011, to one felony count of lewd acts on a child under 14. The defendant was sentenced in absentia, as he is currently in federal custody (see below).

At approximately 12:45 p.m. on June 15, 2010, Needham entered a men’s restroom at the Outlets at Orange (formerly known as the Block at Orange). A 5-year-old boy, John Doe, was using the urinal while his mother waited outside. Needham stood next to the victim, reached over, and touched the victim’s penis. The defendant then left the scene. Needham and the victim did not know each other.

John Doe disclosed the sexual assault to his mother, who contacted the Orange Police Department (OPD). OPD investigated the case.

In a subsequent search of the defendant’s home, OPD officers discovered thousands of images and three videos of graphic, amateur child pornography featuring young boys from infancy to early teens.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Needham for the molestation and possession of child pornography. The U.S. Attorney’s Office later assumed the child pornography case, as the defendant’s maximum sentence if convicted would be greater than if prosecuted at the state level.

In February 2012, Needham was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for the child pornography case. His 6-year sentence for the child molest in Orange County will be served concurrent to the federal sentence.

Needham’s lifetime sex offender registration bars him from entering County recreational areas and City parks that have passed the Sex Offender Ordinance. Visit www.orangecountyda.com to read the prior press releases on the County’s Sex Offender Ordinance as well as the 11 other cities that have enacted the Child Safety Zone Ordinance.

DOWNEY – A substitute teacher was charged by the District Attorney’s Office today with one misdemeanor count of child molesting earlier this month at a La Mirada middle school.

Ted Nishihara, 29 (dob 4-17-1982), was expected to appear for arraignment this afternoon in Department 5, Downey Superior Court. He was charged with the single count in case No. 2DY01338. Bail was recommended at $20,000.

The complaint stated that the alleged crime occurred on March 2. The victim was identified only as Jane Doe.

Authorities said Nishihara was a substitute teacher at Los Coyotes Middle School in La Mirada when the alleged crime occurred.

POMONA – A 32-year-old man extradited from Mexico on child
sex abuse charges appeared in court today, the District Attorney’s Office announced.

Roberto Edgar Torres (dob 6/14/79), who arrived in Los Angeles on March 2, appeared in Pomona Superior Court for arraignment but
the hearing was postponed until April 10. The defendant is charged
in case No. KA086731.

Torres is charged with two counts each of sex and/or sodomy with a child under 10 and oral copulation and/or sexual penetration with a child under 10. He also faces one count each of lewd act upon a child and sending harmful matter.

The complaint includes special allegations that the abuse involved multiple victims and that the defendant used obscene matter and matter depicting sexual conduct.

The charging document further indicates that the victims were a boy and a girl and that the alleged offenses took place between January 1997 and March 2009.

The female victim was 7 years old at the time of the purported molestation. The male victim, who at the time of the alleged offenses was around 7 or 8 years old, is now an adult, prosecutors said.

Torres fled during the investigation and was not arrested in connection with the alleged crimes until authorities apprehended him in Tamaulipas, Mexico in September 2011. The case was filed for warrant in May 2009. Officers of the Pomona Police Department investigated the case.

If convicted as charged, Torres faces a maximum term of 110 years to life in state prison.

SANTA ANA - An after school child care leader faces trial Monday for molesting two young boys during program hours while entrusted to care for them at an afterschool daycare program. Scott Andrew Christensen, 28, Rancho Santa Margarita, is charged with three felony counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 years with sentencing enhancement allegations for substantial sexual conduct with a child and committing the sexual acts against more than one victim. If convicted on all charges, Christensen faces a maximum sentence of 45 years to life in state prison. Opening statements are expected to begin Monday, March 5, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-37, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

At the time of the crimes, Christensen was a 6-year employee as a Child Care Leader at The Learning Connection (TLC), an after-school daycare program hosted by the Saddleback Valley Unified School District at elementary schools in Southern California.

On two occasions between Sept. 1, 2005, and Aug. 7, 2006, Christensen is accused of sexually assaulting John Doe #2 when he was 5 to 6 years old. He is accused of touching the victim’s buttocks and side of his penis while the students were watching a movie.

On one occasion between May 6, 2000, and Aug. 1, 2004, Christensen is accused of sitting next to John Doe #3 during a movie while the lights were off. He is accused of grabbing Doe #3’s wrist and putting the victim’s hand down the front of the defendant’s pants, underneath his underwear.

SAN FERNANDO – A 26-year-old Santa Clarita man accused of sexually assaulting a child in a shopping mall restroom pleaded no contest today, the District Attorney’s Office announced.

Deputy District Attorney Laura Knight Jackson of the San Fernando Branch Office said Casey Crockett pleaded to one count of lewd act upon a child under age 14.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Hilleri Merritt immediately sentenced Crockett to three years in state prison. Crockett must also register as a sex offender for life.

The charge stems from an incident on Oct. 17, 2011, during which Crockett molested a child in a public restroom stall at the Westfield Valencia Town Center.