Terry Lee Shields (O.C. Sheriff's Dept.) |
SANTA ANA -- An Orange County school bus driver was sentenced Thursday to 151 years to life in prison for molesting and taking pornographic photographs of young girls.
Terry Lee Shields, 55, of Buena Park was convicted earlier this month on 15 felony counts, including kidnapping, forcible lewd acts on a minor child and using a minor for sex acts, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors said Shields used his bus route to lure at last three young girls -- ages 5, 7, and 11 -- and gained the trust of their families by promising at least one of the children a trip to Disneyland.
He molested the girls and had them pose for graphic photos, authorities said. Two of the victims were molested over a period of three years, according to prosecutors.
Shields, a bus driver for the Los Alamitos School District, was arrested in 2006 after he was spotted looking at child pornography at a Bellflower cyber cafe.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators found nearly 10,000 pornographic images of children on computers and disks in a room that Shields was renting in Anaheim and a storage locker in South Gate, said Sheriff's detective Bryan Sirkel. Some of the images were of infants and toddlers.
The images led authorities to the Orange County victims.
Investigators also found high-powered binoculars, digital cameras, elementary school identification cards, school yearbooks, Elmo dolls and other toys that Shields allegedly used in his crimes. They also found numerous sex toys and lubricants next to the children's toys.
The mother of one victim asked the judge at Thursday's hearing to give Shields the maximum sentence. She said she may never know the full extent of the crime because her 5-year-old daughter has a mental disability, according to the district attorney.
Terry Lee Shields, 55, of Buena Park was convicted earlier this month on 15 felony counts, including kidnapping, forcible lewd acts on a minor child and using a minor for sex acts, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors said Shields used his bus route to lure at last three young girls -- ages 5, 7, and 11 -- and gained the trust of their families by promising at least one of the children a trip to Disneyland.
He molested the girls and had them pose for graphic photos, authorities said. Two of the victims were molested over a period of three years, according to prosecutors.
Shields, a bus driver for the Los Alamitos School District, was arrested in 2006 after he was spotted looking at child pornography at a Bellflower cyber cafe.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators found nearly 10,000 pornographic images of children on computers and disks in a room that Shields was renting in Anaheim and a storage locker in South Gate, said Sheriff's detective Bryan Sirkel. Some of the images were of infants and toddlers.
The images led authorities to the Orange County victims.
Investigators also found high-powered binoculars, digital cameras, elementary school identification cards, school yearbooks, Elmo dolls and other toys that Shields allegedly used in his crimes. They also found numerous sex toys and lubricants next to the children's toys.
The mother of one victim asked the judge at Thursday's hearing to give Shields the maximum sentence. She said she may never know the full extent of the crime because her 5-year-old daughter has a mental disability, according to the district attorney.
