Laguna Niguel Man Gets 170 Years to Life for Molesting Four Girls
Laguna Niguel Man Gets 170 Years to Life for Molesting Four Girls
by Contributing Editor
A Laguna Niguel man who volunteered with the local YMCA and a girls softball team was sentenced Friday to 170 years to life in prison for molesting several girls at his home when they were 10 and 11 years old.
“This predator used his position of trust to prey on these very young and vulnerable children,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Thankfully, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars instead of victimizing innocent children.”
Glen Thomas Kauffman, 56, was convicted Oct. 15 of six counts of lewd acts with a minor younger than 14 and three counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration of a child 10 years or younger involving three victims, but evidence of the molestation of a fourth girl was used in the trial.
The sexual assaults span six years and date back to 2013, when he molested a girl who was a neighbor, according to Deputy District Attorney Courtney Thom.
The defendant — who ran a financial firm that served top U.S. brands and was a member of the UC Irvine Alumni Association’s Board of Directors — met the the other victims through his daughter, as well as his volunteer work helping coach the youth softball league in Laguna Niguel, Thom said.
Though Kauffman was not officially a coach with the softball league, he would wear a jersey and created a “false sense of authority” to his victims, according to the mother of one of the girls. He also volunteered at the local YMCA, she said.
“At our elementary school, he was always shoulder-to-shoulder with educators and staff,” the woman said in her victim impact statement to the court. “There are people there who still think he’s innocent and are friends with him,” she said, adding that she views him as a “manipulative sociopath.”
Kauffman “used” the death of his wife to make sure his daughter’s friends would show up for sleepovers at his home, the mother said.
“He said his daughter was too scared to sleep anywhere but home,” she said.
The mother choked up when she described how two of the girls came forward to report the crimes.
“When you spoke up, you had no idea your courage gave (another victim) the courage to speak up,” she said. “And then, you stuck it out through this whole crazy process. You weathered a storm that would break anyone else.”
Referring to Kauffman’s claim at trial that the girls were spurred by a falling-out with his daughter over the superhero character the Flash, the father of two of the victims said they were the true heroes.
“This person is a sociopath, a serial child predator,” he told Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert A. Knox. “There is no remorse. He is only sorry there’s consequences.”
One of the girls said she felt “humiliated” and slammed the defendant for “using his own daughter to get to other children.”
“I’m hurt, broken and in pain,” she said. “I will be forever traumatized… You know what you did to me… and you don’t even care.”
Another of the victims said she felt guilty she didn’t protect her sibling.
“I’ve felt a tremendous amount of guilt and sadness for this. I was a normal, happy kid before I met you,” she told the defendant.
Thom advocated for the maximum sentence of 170 years to life.
“Every act he did on these four girls requires the maximum sentence,” the prosecutor said, telling the judge that Kauffman has shown “zero responsibility” for his crimes during and after the trial.
When he addressed the court, Kauffman told the judge, “I am a sinner, no doubt … But the jury got it wrong. Something’s broken.”
He said the jury “chose to accept salacious stories rather than cold, sober facts.”
He admitted molesting two of the girls in a covert phone call monitored by sheriff’s deputies and while being questioned by investigators, but said they were “false confessions” made under duress as he grieved the death of his wife and experienced stress from his business.
“I was exhausted and stressed,” he said.
Kauffman’s attorney, Leonard Levine, argued for a 25-years-to-life sentence.
Knox decided on the maximum punishment, saying the defendant “caused serious harm to four young victims and their families… and his own children, who now must suffer.”
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All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com
