$2.6M Bail Set For Babysitter, Boyfriend in Molestation of 7-Year-Old Girls

Carlsbad, CA — A babysitter and her boyfriend accused in the sexual molestation of two 7-year-old North County San Diego girls were ordered held on $2.6 million bail Friday.

Samuel Cabrera Jr., 22, of Carlsbad, and Brittney Mae Lyon, of Escondido, also 22 years old, were arrested Wednesday by Carlsbad police, who said Lyon, the girls' babysitter, brought them on multiple occasions to Cabrera's residence, where he allegedly molested them while she purportedly videotaped the acts.

During their arraignments Friday at San Diego Superior Court in Vista, both pleaded not guilty to eight felony charges, including conspiracy, forcible child molest and kidnapping for child molest, according to Deputy District Attorney Jodi Breton.

Breton said that in addition to Lyon furnishing the victims, on some occasions she helped undress them, the Los Angeles Time reported.

Cabrera and Lyon were taken into custody less than 24 hours after the Carlsbad Police Department learned of the alleged crimes and launched a full-scale investigation, serving search warrants and collecting evidence.

• Babysitter, Boyfriend Accused of Molesting 7-Year-Olds at Carlsbad Residence: Police

Investigators believe the girls were sexually molested on multiple occasions at Cabrera's Carlsbad residence in the 6300 block of Greenhaven Drive.

"We had a 7-year-old female report to her mother that she didn’t want to go to the babysitter’s, because the babysitters used to bring her over to Sam’s house," Carlsbad Police Lt. Marc Reno told NBC7 San Diego.

Breton said the two young victims — one lives with her family in Oceanside and the other lives in Escondido — did not know each other; one was a family friend of Lyon's, according to the Times.

Lyon's Facebook profile lists several employment positions in North County that would have put her in the direct company of children. She worked as an inclusion leader at a YMCA in Oceanside, as an instructional aide at San Elijo Elementary School in San Marcos and as a camp program leader at a YMCA in Escondido, her profile shows. She studied child development at Cal State San Marcos and also listed Legoland as one of her employers.

One of the victims was described by Breton as "very developmentally delayed" and therefore unable to communicate what happened to her, the Times reported.

"We are equally disturbed and outraged that adults would victimize children in this way ... the safety and welfare of children are our top priority," Carlsbad police Chief Neil Gallucci said at the time of their arrests.

The pair — who each face more than 90 years to life in prison if convicted, according to Breton — are scheduled to appear in court again July 19 for a readiness conference, and July 21 for preliminary hearing.

Lyon was initially held on $100,000 bail and Cabrera's was set at $2.3 million.

But Friday, San Diego Superior Court Judge James Magione ordered each held at $2.6 million bail, saying they were both a "substantial risk to public safety," the Times reported.

— City News Service contributed to this report.