A 45-year-old Huntington Beach man on parole for burglary was scheduled to be arraigned this morning on a laundry list of serious felony charges for alleged sex acts with a 4-year-old relative he was babysitting.
Considering the details of the criminal complaint filed against Gordon Ray Bodkin, the only question about the possible maximum prison sentence of 40 years to life he faces is this:
Why is the punishment so light?
]
My apologies if you have not yet finished digesting your breakfast before reading the following from the Orange County District Attorney's office:
On the evening of Aug. 9, 2011, Bodkin is accused of being alone in a
Huntington Beach home with 4-year-old Jane Doe, a female relative whom
he was babysitting. The defendant is accused sexually assaulting Jane
Doe including orally copulating her and raping and/or digitally
penetrating her.
At approximately 6:30 p.m., Jane Doe's father arrived to pick up his
daughter. He walked into the home to find Jane Doe naked on the bed.
Bodkin is accused of standing over Jane Doe naked from the waist down
when the victim's father walked in. The defendant is accused of grabbing
his clothing and running from the home. Jane Doe's father called 911.
The Huntington Beach Police Department reached out to the public in hopes of locating Bodkin after the father's 911 call and a search of the suspect's Surf City apartment. He was arrested after returning to his residence on Aug. 15.
Bodkin was to be arraigned in Westminster this morning on one felony count each of unlawful sexual
intercourse with a child under 10, sexual penetration with a foreign
object of a child under 10, and oral copulation of a child under 10,
with sentencing enhancement allegations for substantial sexual conduct
with a child.
He has a prior strike conviction for residential burglary
in 2009.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.