| For Immediate Release Case #: 10HF1000 January 28, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
SEX OFFENDER PAROLEE SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON FOR MOLESTING GIRL ON BUS IN FRONT OF HER FRIENDS
NEWPORT BEACH – A sex offender parolee was sentenced today to five years in state prison for molesting a young teen girl on a public bus in front of her friends. James Edward Norkin, 50, pleaded guilty to three felony counts of lewd acts on a child with sentencing allegations and enhancements for being convicted, sent to prison, and not remaining free for a period of five years on each of the three separate convictions, and for being a stranger to Jane Doe.
On June 6, 2010, Norkin boarded a bus where three teenage girls were sitting in the far backseat. He was on parole and wearing a GPS tracking device. Norkin sat next to 14-year-old Jane Doe and her two female friends. The defendant pretended to be asleep and touched Jane Joe three times on her thigh, torso, and breast. He touched the victim until he was ordered by one of the female friends to stop.
The defendant got off at the next bus stop. The victim’s friends told the bus driver what she saw and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case. The defendant was linked to this crime through his parole officer and the GPS device.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown of the Sexual Assault Unit prosecuted this case.
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