A Woodland man pleaded no contest this week to child-molestation charges in a plea agreement that is expected to bring a 24-year state prison term, according to the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.

Jack Lynn Stearns, 49, entered the no-contest pleas to eight counts of child molestation and one count of possessing child pornography, District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in a news release. Stearns is scheduled to be sentenced on June 8 by Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg.

Prosecutors said Stearns began molesting the victim — whose relationship to him was not disclosed — from 2002, when she was 10 years old, until 2007. The victim, now an adult, reported being sexually assaulted by Stearns in February, after which the incidents were reported to Woodland police.

During the investigation, detectives seized Stearns’ computer, a forensic examination of which revealed that Stearns had used the computer to view “sexually explicit images of young girls,” according to the news release.

Investigators also learned that Stearns allegedly had molested two other girls some two decades ago, Reisig said. However, the alleged incidents were not among the charges Stearns faced in this case.

Stearns’ attorney, Deputy Public Defender Dan Hutchinson, declined to comment Wednesday on the plea agreement.

Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Palumbo, who prosecuted the case, lauded Woodland police and other law-enforcement experts for their work on the case.

“The Multi-Disciplinary Interview Team, in conjunction with the Woodland Police Department, obtained critical information. They sought the expertise of the DA’s computer forensics examiners who uncovered the child pornography and evidence of other victims,” Palumbo said. “It’s not often that a defendant agrees to such a long prison sentence and that result is a credit to the efforts of our law enforcement team.”

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or (530) 747-8048. Follow her at www.twitter.com/laurenkeene.

Comments

comments