6-Year Term for Cancer Victim : Dying Child Molester Given ‘Life Sentence’

A North Hollywood man who is dying of lung cancer was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison for molesting two neighborhood boys.

Robert Loomis, 57, sat with his head bowed and did not react as San Fernando Superior Court Judge Robert D. Fratianne ordered him to serve what his defense attorney later called a “life sentence.”

Doctors believe Loomis will die within three to four years, said his defense attorney, who asked that his name not be used. Besides lung cancer, which forced doctors to remove half of Loomis’ right lung and several ribs a few months ago, Loomis suffers from emphysema, asthma and a degenerative bone disease.

Loomis pleaded guilty in September to two counts of child molestation in connection with an October, 1984, incident in which he lured a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old into his house after they had asked to go for a swim in a pond at his house, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth A. Loveman said.

Loomis admitted that he molested the boys after he persuaded them to take off their swimming trunks in return for a candy bar, Loveman said.

In a statement to probation officers, Loomis said he had been drinking most of the day of the molestations. Although he said he is homosexual, “he denies that he is interested in ‘little boys’ and feels that his drinking is responsible for his indiscretions,” a probation report said.

Loomis’ attorney asked Fratianne to grant the defendant supervised probation because he has admitted his guilt and needs specialized medical care.

“I don’t think our penal system can take care of this man,” the attorney said. “All they can do is provide a cage for him to live in and die.”

‘Duty to Be Punished’

But Loveman sought a prison sentence to prevent Loomis from harming more children.

“They have hospitals in the penal system,” Loveman said after the sentencing. “We have the responsibility of keeping his cage clean, nothing more.”

Fratianne said he could not let Loomis’ physical condition take priority over “the court’s duty and society’s duty that, when someone violates the law, they are to be punished. . . . It’s got to be done, and I’m here to do it.”

Fratianne could have sentenced Loomis, who had no previous felony convictions, to 10 years in prison.