El Cajon

An El Cajon woman pleaded guilty Thursday to nine charges involving child molestation and could receive a sentence of up to 50 years in prison.

Lori Bartz, 24, will be sentenced Feb. 2 by San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Greer.

Bartz pleaded guilty to performing lewd, lascivious acts with minors, rape with a foreign object, and forcible oral copulation on the juveniles, involving four girls and a boy.

Greer dismissed 61 other counts of child molestation, including counts relating to a sixth victim, another boy.

“This does spare the children from testifying a second time,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Avery. “Three out of the six are having real problems. The events were so traumatic and painful that they had a need to try and forget what had happened to them.”

Last year during Bartz’s preliminary hearing, the girls said they were threatened with death if they told of the molestation.

Some of the children said Bartz’s voice changed and she tried to impersonate the devil. One girl said Bartz lit candles all around in the room before molesting her as part of a bizarre ritual.

A co-defendant, Robert Wilkins Jr., 38, of El Cajon, was sentenced Oct. 15 to 46 years in prison for molesting three of the same victims.

The victims met Bartz when she lived in an apartment complex in Lakeside in 1985 and at roller skating rinks. Some victims were molested in 1984 and 1986.