A 71-year-old Fountain Valley man was arrested and charged today with forcibly raping one 10-year-old girl and performing lewd acts on and possessing pornographic images of a second 10-year-old girl.
Donald Ray Shipley faces a laundry list of felonies and sentencing enhancements that, with a conviction, could put him away in state prison for more than 40 years.
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One girl visited another young female relative in Shipley's home between January and December 2008, when the old man forced the visitor into a bedroom where he forcibly raped her, according to an Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) statement, which notes the 10-year-old did not immediately report the crime.
Shipley committed the lewd acts against the second 10-year-old, who lived in the same neighborhood as him, between January and December 2009, the OCDA alleges.
In May 2011, the Fountain Valley Police Department launched an investigation into Shipley's alleged possession of child pornography. Officers allegedly seized more than a dozen pornographic images of young girls between the ages of 10 and 13, many of whom appeared to be photographed in Shipley's home, which he shared with the young relative and an adult female.
Among the photos, the OCDA notes, were some of the 10-year-old neighbor girl, whose family reported the abuse to police. Without knowing an investigation was under way, according to prosecutors, the forcible rape of the other 10-year-old was reported.
Shipley faces one felony count each of forcible lewd acts on a child
under 14, lewd acts on a child under 14, aggravated sexual assault of a
child, one misdemeanor count of possession and control of child
pornography, and a sentencing enhancement allegation for committing a
sexual offense against more than one victim.
He is expected to be arraigned Thursday
in Westminster. And more charges may loom as the investigation continues. Anyone who
believes Shipley abused them or has information that can help investigators is asked to contact Fountain Valley Police Detective
Jesse Hughes at 714.593.4480 or Supervising District Attorney
Investigator Lou Gutierrez at 714.347.8794.
Perhaps this larger view will jog a (bad) memory:
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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.