logo
Babysitter weeps as she's given enormous sentence for delivering disabled children to pedophile boyfriend so he could rape them

Babysitter weeps as she's given enormous sentence for delivering disabled children to pedophile boyfriend so he could rape them

Daily Mail​a day ago
A San Diego babysitter broke down in tears in court as she was sentenced to 100 years to life in prison for delivering little girls to her pedophile boyfriend to molest.
Brittney Mae Lyon, 31, advertised her babysitting services online - with a particular interest in working with special needs children - and earned the trust of parents who left their kids in her care.
But, in reality, she was sexually abusing the little girls and providing them to her boyfriend Samuel Cabrera, 31, who would film himself molesting them.
The victims were aged between three and seven years old and some were autistic and non-verbal.
Lyon pleaded guilty to two counts of a lewd act upon a child and two counts of a forcible lewd act upon a child in May.
She also admitted additional allegations of kidnapping, residential burglary and sexually assaulting multiple victims.
The sick abuse came to light in 2016 when a seven-year-old girl told her mother she didn't want to go anywhere with Lyon - a long-term friend of the family who also babysat her - anymore.
The little girl then told her mom about the abuse who went to the police, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
An investigation led Carlsbad police to Cabrera, then 22, and both he and Lyon were arrested.
A search of Cabrera's car uncovered a double-locked box containing six computer hard drives with hundreds of videos of him abusing victims.
Some of the victims in the videos were drugged and the clips were often filmed with multiple cameras to capture different angles, prosecutors said.
The horrifying tapes featured multiple unknown victims, prompting an investigation to track down other families who had hired Lyon as a babysitter.
Parents of three of the victims had met Lyon through a babysitting website where she had 'touted her interest in working with special needs children,' according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
One mother saw a news story about Lyon and Cabrera's awful crimes and reached out to police, only to learn that her own three-year-old was among the victims filmed being abused by the twisted couple.
Another victim was a developmentally-delayed seven-year-old with autism, who could not dress or bathe herself or speak.
Lyon and Cabrera met in high school and he initially convinced her to secretly record women getting changed in dressing rooms and gym locker rooms, prosecutors said.
Then, the pedophile asked Lyon to bring children in her care to his home - where she participated in some of the abuse, according to prosecutors.
Cabrera went on trial in 2019 charged with 35 felonies, including multiple counts involving child molestation, kidnapping, burglary and conspiracy.
It took a North County jury just two hours to convict him on all charges.
He was sentenced to eight terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole and 300 additional years.
Lyon's case was stalled by Covid courtroom closures and by changes of attorneys.
She has been represented by three different defense attorneys over the past nine years: a public defender, then private counsel and then another public defender.
At her sentencing inside the Vista Courthouse in San Diego Thursday, the babysitter's defense attorney read a statement on her behalf.
'For nine years, I've thought about what I would say today. I've come to the conclusion that there are no words that would make any of the harm and trauma I've caused any better,' the statement read.
'The words "I'm sorry" are far too simple for the amount of trauma I've caused and the amount of regret that I feel.'
Parents of the victims also spoke in court on Thursday.
One mother said Lyon 'used her credentials' - such as studying child development - 'to lull us into a state of comfort so we didn't feel like we had to ask a lot of questions about what Brittany did with our daughter when they were together'.
What the mother thought was a special trip for their daughter to play places she later learned were 'molestation sessions,' she said.
Cabrera is not eligible for parole, but Lyon - who was sentenced to 100 years to life - is.
This means it is possible she could be released after serving just a third of her sentence.
Some of the victims' parents slammed the possibility that she could be freed in future.
'It's a slap in the face to drag us through this field of broken glass for 10 years only to give Brittney a break,' one mother said.
A California law change now allows for 'elder parole,' where inmates who have served at least 20 years of their sentence can petition for a parole hearing when they turn 50.
While legislative efforts to exclude sex offenders from this rule have stalled, the San Diego County District Attorney's Office has continued to push for the change.
'The age of 50 is hardly "elderly," particularly in the realm of child molesters, who need only be in a position of trust and power to access and sexually abuse children,' District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a news release in reference to Lyon's sentencing.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

British ‘victim of US rapist' has case dropped
British ‘victim of US rapist' has case dropped

Telegraph

time13 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

British ‘victim of US rapist' has case dropped

A woman who claimed she was raped in Britain by American sex offender Nicholas Rossi has accused the Crown Prosecution Service of not doing its job after it refused to prosecute him. Rossi, 38, who faked his own death in 2020 and fled to Britain in order to avoid charges against him in the US, was convicted of rape in Utah this week. But the CPS has declined to prosecute over a former girlfriend's allegations he raped her at her home in Chelmsford, Essex, in 2017, saying there is insufficient evidence. The woman, named only as Michelle, began a relationship with Rossi in 2017 after meeting on an online dating app. 'We cannot prove rape' She said he claimed to be a Harvard-educated political lobbyist, and once they were in a relationship, he demanded she buy him an iPhone, give him money and never wear trousers. Rossi is accused of tracking her whereabouts and raping her in her own bedroom, after which she threw him out and reported him to the authorities. But after an Essex Police investigation, the CPS decided not to prosecute him. 'We cannot prove that [Rossi] was aware that you did not want to have sex with him at the point of penetration despite your earlier refusal and the fact that you were not actively participating in the intercourse,' Helen Walsh, the district crown prosecutor, wrote in a letter dated July 24, according to The Times. 'I appreciate that you will be very unhappy and distressed that this case could not proceed but I am grateful that you felt able to raise your concerns.' Rossi has denied the accusations. Michelle told the newspaper: 'I am very happy that Nicholas Rossi has been found guilty of rape in Utah, But I am shocked, distressed and angered that no action will be taken in my case in the UK. 'It feels to me like the CPS are blaming the victim rather than doing their job. The authorities in the US believed the woman, took action and secured a unanimous conviction despite similar amounts of evidence existing in both cases. 'I am deeply concerned for other rape survivors in England who are fighting for justice and are reliant on receiving support from the CPS.' Rapist trapped on Covid ward Rossi, originally from Rhode Island, was arrested in Glasgow in 2021 while receiving treatment for Covid-19 after hospital staff recognised his distinctive tattoos from an Interpol red notice. He insisted he was Arthur Knight, a disabled Englishman who was being framed for the crimes. But he was extradited after a Scottish court ruled he was Rossi and on Wednesday, he was found guilty by a court in Salt Lake County, Utah, of raping his former fiancée. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. A spokesman for the CPS said: 'Our prosecutors take the greatest care when examining allegations of rape – looking at the facts of each case in detail. 'After a careful review of all the materials in this case, we concluded there was not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of securing a conviction. 'A request to review this decision led to a second prosecutor reviewing the case, who reached the same conclusion, and we wrote to [Michelle] to explain our decision-making. 'We consistently charge around 7 in 10 of the rape cases passed to us by police, but we recognise there is more we can do in partnership with police to build the strongest possible cases from the outset.'

DAN HODGES: Palestine Action IS a terror group. But its liberal, middle-class backers think it's their right to defy the law
DAN HODGES: Palestine Action IS a terror group. But its liberal, middle-class backers think it's their right to defy the law

Daily Mail​

time43 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

DAN HODGES: Palestine Action IS a terror group. But its liberal, middle-class backers think it's their right to defy the law

Deborah Hinton had been left in 'a state of trauma'. 'I was shaking uncontrollably,' the 81-year-old former magistrate explained as she reclined in her stylish armchair in her home in Gorran Haven, Cornwall. The police who had arrested her had the temerity to confiscate 'my handbag, my watch, and I was also wearing my miniature OBE, and they took that too', she recalled. Ms Hinton's only crime? Well, it was actually quite a serious one. She was arrested for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. As she would have been aware, given she's also a former member of the National Parole Board.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store