The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
Jane Maria Nicholson, a 25 year old transgender woman, was sentenced to more the 5 years in prison on Wednesday for engaging in sex acts with teenage boys, one of them only 13. She propositioned the boys on a street in North Torrance.
Authorities said that the boys did not know their female partner was biologically a male until they were contacted by detectives investigating a child molestation case.
Nicholson formerly served on the board of the South Bay LGBT center. In September 2015 in a Torrance CitiCable video news feature that was posted on YouTube, Nicholson said she was happy with her role helping gay, lesbian, and transgender people at the LGBT center at 16610 Crenshaw Blvd.
A child molestation investigation was opened when a Torrance resident contacted the police to report that a family member had been solicited.
Nicholson was facing up to 12 years in prison, but last week she rejected a deal to serve four years for crimes involving four boys in exchange for a no contest or guilty plea in court. Nicholson reconsidered Wednesday when she learned Torrance police had identified a fifth victim who was a 14 year old boy from Lawndale who had allegedly received oral sex.
Police identified four boys: a 17 year old, 16 year old, and two 13 year olds from the South Bay area as victims. According to the allegations, Nicholson performed oral sex on one of the younger boys, engaged in anal intercourse in an alley another, while the two other boys were propositioned.
Nicholson was arrested on December 1, 2015. On Wednesday, Nicholson entered four no-contest pleas to felony counts of lewd acts with a minor under 14, oral copulation of a person under 18, and sodomy involving a person under 18, and a misdemeanor count of child molesting. Prosecutors dismissed a second felony oral copulation count and another count of child molesting. Pleading no-contest allows one to avoid admitting guilt while still accepting the plea deal and punishment offered by the government.
If you or a loved one is suspected of lewd acts with a minor or child molesting, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.