Convicted Molester Re-Sentenced To 11 Years For Crimes Against Autistic O.C. Boy

ORANGE COUNTY, CA -- A man convicted of molesting an autistic male relative, starting when the boy was about 5 years old, was sentenced today to nearly 11 years in state prison and ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Jeffrey Adam Tracy, formerly of Huntington Beach, videotaped some of the sex acts with the victim and emailed them to acquaintances, according to prosecutors, who said the now-39-year-old defendant was a "church worship
leader'' at the time.

Tracy was previously sentenced in December 2014 to 36 years to life in prison, following his conviction on two counts of oral copulation of a child 10 years old or younger, four counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14 and
one count of recording a minor during a sex act. But a three-justice panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal on Jan. 12 reversed Tracy's convictions on four of the seven counts, finding there wasn't proper corroborating evidence of those crimes beyond Tracy's confession and ordering that he be re-sentenced.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Cassidy cited the boy's autism as one of the reasons he opted for a maximum allowable sentence.

The child's grandmother also cited the boy's disability in a statement to the judge today.

"Jeffrey took advantage of (the victim) and his autism disability, knowing that (the boy) would not be able to effectively communicate to anyone about the horrible acts that were being done to him,'' she said. "Jeffrey has
no remorse for what he has done and all he can think of is getting out of prison and will probably harm another child if he is released.''

She said she was "dumbfounded with the decision to overturn his sentencing and dismiss some of the counts, which reduces his sentence. There is something very wrong in this world for this to occur. And this is aside from the fact that it puts others in danger once he is released.''

The boy's other grandmother told the judge, "The victims of sexual abuse and molestation suffer a life sentence of being emotionally locked in. This current ruling is insulting and absurd.''

The justices -- who upheld two lewd acts counts and the recording count - - found that "a conviction cannot stand where the only evidence supporting the conviction consists of the defendant's extrajudicial statements.'' The legal rule is aimed at preventing defendants from confessing to crimes they did not commit.

The justices' ruling states that "independent evidence showed (the victim) was molested ... on two separate occasions as evidence by the recordings made on those occasions. Other than defendant's statements, there is
no evidence (the victim) was molested more than twice.''

The victim did not testify in the trial "and there was no medical evidence indicating multiple molestations,'' the justices noted.

Federal authorities started investigating Tracy in April 2013 when they suspected he was uploading child porn videos. That led to his arrest in September 2013. During that investigation, authorities discovered Tracy had molested the boy, according to prosecutors.

--City News Service