ER - Resolution to sex case reached

Resolution to sex case reached; defendant must register as sex offender for life
by Kara Machado, 6/12/2007

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Timothy Cissna granted an amended complaint Tuesday against Jacob Charles Toomey.

The amended complaint — a resolution to the case agreed upon by both the prosecution and defense on Monday — lists 10 charges instead of the initial three Toomey, 28, of Redway, had been charged with.

The new complaint, read aloud in court, charges Toomey with one count of a lewd and lascivious act against a child, age 14 or 15, when the perpetrator is more than 10 years older, and nine counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor under 16, when the defendant is 21 or older.

Toomey pleaded guilty to the new charges in Cissna’s courtroom Tuesday.

The stipulated sentence, Cissna announced in court, consists of 12 years in prison.

Toomey will also have to register, for life, as a sex offender and pay restitution to the victim for all out-of-pocket expenses.

Such out-of-pocket expenses Cissna listed in court Tuesday include, but are not limited to, counseling, medical care and cost of delivery.

After Toomey is released from prison, Cissna said he will be on parole for three years.

The initial child molestation charges against Toomey — to which he had pleaded not guilty — consisted of one count of a lewd and lascivious act with a child under the age of 14 and two counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child, age 14 or 15, when the perpetrator is more than 10 years older.

Toomey’s attorney, Humboldt County Chief Conflict Counsel Glenn Brown, said Toomey pleaded guilty to the amended complaint because it “more accurately” fits the crimes Toomey committed in that the victim was 14 — not 13 — when the unlawful sexual conduct occurred.

“I think, from our position, that the case involved unlawful sexual intercourse with someone under the age of 18,” Brown said. “Mr. Toomey had admitted that from the beginning.

“The issue we were finally able to agree on is that (the victim) had turned 14 at the time of these events and that enabled us to agree upon the charges that (Toomey) ultimately pleaded (guilty) to.”

Humboldt County Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Schwartz said, “We’re fully satisfied with the plea agreement.”

Toomey will not be sentenced until June 20, by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Christopher Wilson.

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