Former Los Angeles sheriff's deputy gets 40 years in prison for sexually abusing 4 children

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy pleaded no contest Friday to sex offenses involving four girls and was immediately sentenced to 40 years in state prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.

Sean Essex – who served as a sheriff's deputy for 22 years before his April 2022 arrest – pleaded no contest to three counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and one count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, and admitted that he took advantage of a position of trust and that one of the victims was particularly vulnerable, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

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Essex, now 53, was indicted in August 2022, with the grand jury indictment referring to the girls as “Jane Doe 1,” “Jane Doe 2,” “Jane Doe 3” and “Jane Doe 1.” Jane Doe 4″.

The girls were between 7 and 13 years old at the time of the alleged crimes, the district attorney's office said shortly after the indictment was returned from the grand jury.

One of the victims was abused in 2006, while the other three were abused between 2013 and 2022, according to the prosecutor's office.

In a statement, District Attorney George Gascón said, “The horrific sexual abuse Mr. Essex inflicted on these young victims not only violated his oath as a law enforcement officer to protect and serve the community, but also left these children with life. -long trauma… The victims have shown immense courage in speaking out about the abuse committed by Mr. Essex.”

Essex was assigned to the Sheriff's Department's training office when he was initially arrested in April 2022, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Three of the victims are related to a woman Essex had dated about 20 years earlier, a prosecutor told a judge during an August 2022 hearing in which he asked that Essex be held without bail.

The indictment also included a lewd act charge involving a girl who reported the alleged crime in 2006 in a case the district attorney's office had previously dismissed.

In a statement released shortly after Essex's conviction, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said the agency was made aware of the allegations in April 2022 and an internal criminal investigation was immediately launched.

Essex was initially arrested in April 2022 by investigators from the department's Internal Bureau of Criminal Investigation and booked on one count each of lewd/lascivious acts with a child under 14 and oral copulation with a child under 14 years old. He was released. on bond that day, according to jail records.

He was arrested again in August 2022 and has remained behind bars since then, according to prison records.

He “separated from the department in November 2022,” according to the sheriff’s department statement.

“This individual's egregious actions do not align with the values ​​upheld by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department or the dedicated law enforcement professionals who proudly serve our communities every day. The department sets a standard of conduct members of the department who engage in misconduct, particularly criminal behavior targeting vulnerable populations, will be fully investigated and prosecuted. the extent of the law,” the department added in its press release.

City press service