CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / TORRANCE

A convicted child molester who was found guilty this month of failing to register as a sex offender was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years to life in prison under the state’s three-strikes law, authorities said.

Wynford Eugene Murray, 35, was arrested last year by Redondo Beach police after his girlfriend discovered he had printed out explicit stories from the Internet about adults having sex with children. Murray used a public library computer to access the stories, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann S. Lee, who prosecuted the case.

Murray was convicted in 1997 of molesting two girls, ages 3 and 4, in New York state, Lee said. Murray was arrested in 2006 for failing to register as a sex offender but fled, only to be arrested for the same offense in Virginia.

Lee said Murray was convicted in Virginia in 2007 and was warned by a judge during his sentencing that he must register if he moved to another state. But he failed to do so when he moved to Los Angeles County.

-- Jack Leonard