Husband and wife convicted of locking up two starving girls in a mobile home

Orange County District Attorney Press Release

For Immediate Release: August 6, 2014

Case # 13NF1694

MAN AND WOMAN CONVICTED OF KEEPING TWO YOUNG FEMALE RELATIVES MALNOURISHED AND LOCKED INSIDE UNSANITARY MOBILE HOME

FULLERTON – A man and woman were convicted yesterday of keeping two young female relatives malnourished and locked inside an unsanitary mobile home without letting them go outside. Lester Louis Huffmire and his wife Petra Huffmire, both 41 from Anaheim, pleaded guilty yesterday, Aug. 5, 2014, to two felony counts of child abuse, two misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment, one misdemeanor count of contributing to delinquency of a minor, and sentencing enhancements for great bodily injury. Lester Huffmire was sentenced to five years in state prison. Petra Huffmire was sentenced to three years and four months in state prison.

Lester Huffmire and Petra Huffmire were living in an unsanitary mobile park home with the victims, 10-year-old Jane Doe #1 and 5-year-old Jane Doe #2. The defendants had a duty of care to the victims.

Between May 21, 2010, and May 20, 2013, the defendants kept the mobile park home unsanitary and uninhabitable, including kitchen appliances covered in mold and cobwebs, stacks of trash, debris, mold, and feces throughout the home, a pile of used condoms under a stuffed teddy bear, and inoperable toilets. They kept the mobile park home in this condition while Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 lived there. Lester Huffmire and Petra Huffmire were unemployed and played an online computer game, World of Warcraft, all day.

The defendants did not let the victims out of the home for any reason. They kept the victims from attending school.

On May 20, 2013, after a call from a neighbor, an officer from the Anaheim Police Department went to the home to conduct a welfare check and found the two victims with dirt crusted on their feet, matted hair, damaged teeth beyond repair, and malnourished.

Deputy District Attorney Lori Smith of the Family Protection Unit prosecuted this case.

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Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney
401 Civic Center Drive West
Santa Ana, CA 92701

Contacts:

Susan Kang Schroeder
Chief of Staff
Office: 714-347-8408
Cell: 714-292-2718

Farrah Emami
Spokesperson
Office: 714-347-8405
Cell: 714-323-4486

Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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