A judge this week sentenced a convicted child molester to over four centuries in state prison, the San Joaquin County district attorney’s office said.
Lonnie Smith, 72, from Anderson, California, was sentenced to 450 years to life plus two counts of life without parole after he was convicted on eight counts of various child molestation charges from multiple jurisdictions, including Stockton, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The charges involved the molestation of three children, all of whom were under the age of 13 at the time the crimes were committed, authorities said.
Prosecutors deemed Smith a serial child molester, having served two previous prison terms for lewd acts with a minor in 1983 and again in 1988. Three victims from the earlier cases were allowed to testify during Smith’s most recent trial about his previous abuse, according to a news release from the D.A.’s office.
“Sentencing laws in the 1980s were much less stringent than today’s laws, which now allow for life without parole,” prosecutors said in the release. “With this sentence, the public is finally protected from this repeat offender.”
Calling the decision “monumental,” San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said: “This sentence is a thundering verdict against evil.”