sanluisobispo.com | June 10, 2013
A 29-year-old Morro Bay man was sentenced Monday to 48 years in state prison for multiple acts of sexual molestation against two minors and a residential burglary.
Adam Bearden had pleaded guilty to seven felony crimes, according to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.
Those crimes included continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, forcible lewd acts on a child under 14, sodomy of a person under the age of 14, two counts of assault on separate minor victims with the intent to commit rape and lewd act on a child who was 14 years old.
Bearden also pleaded guilty to first-degree residential burglary.
Bearden “has inflicted an immeasurable amount of mental anguish and pain and suffering on two young juvenile female victims,” Deputy District Attorney Dan Dow wrote in comments he made Monday before San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Dodie Harman.
One victim was a relative, Dow said. The abuse began when the girl was 9 years old and continued until she was more than 12 years old.
“She is an innocent young girl — who is now a teenager — carrying the great weight of the effect and impact of Adam Bearden’s despicable abuse that he callously inflicted upon her,” Dow said.
Bearden will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Depending upon his behavior in prison, he could be released after 41 years, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jerret Gran said.
Before his release, Bearden will be evaluated on whether he meets the criteria as a sexually violent predator. If he does, he could be housed at Coalinga State Hospital in Fresno County.
The continuous abuse of the first victim happened from April 29, 2008, through Oct. 31, 2011, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Other crimes happened between November 2011 and Jan. 13, 2012.
Officers arrested Bearden on Jan. 16, 2012, on suspicion of alleged burglary of more than $3,000 from a residential safe in Morro Bay.
While he was in jail, police investigated a separate report alleging that he committed ongoing sex crimes against a female younger than 14.
