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WHITTIER, Calif. (KTLA) -- A registered sex offender has been sentenced to nearly 700 years in prison for molesting an 11-year-old relative over a two year period.
Michael Benjamin Burch, 66, was convicted on Dec. 21 of three counts each of forcible rape, oral copulation of a person under 14 and lewd act upon a child.
On Tuesday, a judge imposed the maximum sentence of 675 years to life in state prison.
Burch began engaging in sex acts with the girl when she was 11-years-old and continued to abuse her for two years, officials said.
He had been previously convicted in 1983 for sexually abusing two other girls who are also relatives.
"The defendant is a vicious predator who has destroyed the lives of three ... (victims) whom he was charged with protecting," Deputy District Attorney Michael Michelena wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
"The public should know that there is no tolerance for this type of behavior and it will be met with the harshest of penalties."
Michael Benjamin Burch, 66, was convicted on Dec. 21 of three counts each of forcible rape, oral copulation of a person under 14 and lewd act upon a child.
On Tuesday, a judge imposed the maximum sentence of 675 years to life in state prison.
Burch began engaging in sex acts with the girl when she was 11-years-old and continued to abuse her for two years, officials said.
He had been previously convicted in 1983 for sexually abusing two other girls who are also relatives.
"The defendant is a vicious predator who has destroyed the lives of three ... (victims) whom he was charged with protecting," Deputy District Attorney Michael Michelena wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
"The public should know that there is no tolerance for this type of behavior and it will be met with the harshest of penalties."
