Anaheim children’s ministry volunteer gets a life sentence for molesting little girls and taking their pictures

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A former Anaheim church children’s ministry volunteer has been sentenced to more than 120 years to life for molesting several girls, including one as young as six years old, and taking sexually suggestive photos of one of the girls he met through his church. He also was in possession of hundreds of pornographic images of children, including children stripping, dancing in their underwear, and performing oral sex, according to the OCDA.

Todd Christian Hartman, 41, of Newport Beach, was convicted earlier this month of four felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14, two felony counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration of a child 10 years or younger, two felony counts of lewd act upon a child 14 or 15, and one felony count of possession of child pornography.

Hartman was sentenced today to 120 years to life plus an additional four years and four months in prison. California’s elder parole law allows most convicted felons who are 50 years old or older and who have served at least 20 years of their sentence to be eligible for parole.

In 2016, Hartman contacted the father of two of his victims and admitted that he had molested one of the man’s daughters repeatedly after meeting through his volunteer work at the Anaheim Vineyard Church children’s ministry, beginning when the girl was just six years old. Church leadership changed Hartman’s responsibilities after they became concerned about him repeatedly pulling children on to his lap.

Hartman was also convicted of molesting the girl’s younger sister while taking sexually suggestive photographs while the girl was on his lap. He was also convicted of molesting a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old girl whom he groped and fondled their genitals repeatedly while they were at a 2009 sleepover at the Fullerton home of relatives of one of the girls.

In February 2015, the Newport Beach Department, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, served a search warrant on the Newport Beach home Hartman shared with his mother after tracing an IP address that had shared several child pornography images to Hartman’s residence.

“Houses of worship should be safe havens from the evils of the world, but instead child predators transform them from a place of safety into a hunting ground for unsuspecting victims for their twisted sexual gratification,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “No child should have the innocence of childhood robbed from them by anyone, much less someone they were led to believe they could trust. While these victims and their families grapple with trying to put back together their shattered innocence, they must also deal with the fact that instead of having the peace of mind that this predator who preyed on the most innocent of children will never be out of prison, they must deal with the harsh reality that he will eligible for parole in just a few years as a result of the governor and the state Legislature’s reckless and disgraceful decisions to once again put the criminals before the victimized by allowing dangerous predators to be eligible for elder parole at age 50 after serving just 20 years. We will never leave the sides of our victims and when he does come up for parole we will do everything in our power as prosecutors to keep him behind bars where he undoubtedly belongs.”

Deputy District Attorney Scott Wooldridge of the Sexual Assault Unit prosecuted this case.