Baby sitter who molested girls is sentenced to 75 years to life

A Spring Valley man with a history of sex crimes was sentenced yesterday to prison for 75 years to life for molesting a 4-year-old girl and her 2-year-old friend while he was baby-sitting them.
“Richard DeArment would clearly continue to victimize little girls,” El Cajon Superior Court Judge William J. McGrath said. The judge said the sentence should keep DeArment behind bars for the rest of his life.

DeArment, 45, was convicted Oct. 16 of two counts of committing lewd acts on a child younger than 14 and annoying a child.

Calling DeArment's behavior “demented,” McGrath said DeArment “is an ongoing danger to people in the community.”

The older girl, who is now 5, testified during DeArment's trial in October that DeArment played games with her and the 2-year-old in his Spring Valley home, “taking turns touching each other's private parts.”

Deputy District Attorney Kurt Mechals argued for a prison sentence of 155 years to life, saying DeArment had hurt his own family as well as the families of those he molested.

Deputy Public Defender Jane Kinsey urged leniency because, she said, DeArment “was never violent with the children.”

“We do believe he is worthy of redemption,” Kinsey said.

Probation officials, in a written report to the judge, said

DeArment had a criminal history dating back 30 years. He was convicted in 1995 of molesting a child and arrested in 1985 for exposing himself to two 13-year-old girls. He also has previous convictions for burglary, grand theft, narcotics possession and robbery.