El Cajon

A registered sex offender from a 1985 molestation case has been sentenced to six years in state prison for molesting a child.

The investigation of Joseph Montgomery Lieggi, 29, of El Cajon began last April when El Cajon police found Lieggi in the company of teen-age boys in city parks.

Lieggi told the youths that he had an aging disorder that made him look older, and that his real age was 14. But detectives learned that Lieggi had recently molested a 13-year-old boy who was a family friend.

Lieggi pleaded guilty June 20 to committing a lewd act with the boy. In addition to the six-year prison term on Wednesday, San Diego Superior Court Judge William Mudd also fined Lieggi $1,000, which is to be paid from his wages in prison to the crime victim’s restitution fund.

With his mother and sister in court watching the sentencing, Lieggi’s attorney, Victor Eriksen, urged that Lieggi once again be placed on probation, with a one-year sentence in County Jail that would make “a maximum impression” on him.

Lieggi’s three-year probation from the 1985 case had expired at the time of his arrest in April, but he had been ordered to register as a sex offender.

Lieggi told the judge he would abide by conditions of probation and said he knew that if he returned to court a third time he might face a 30-year sentence.

“I really feel sorry for what I did,” Lieggi said.

The judge said Lieggi was a pedophile, which he described as someone with a “lifelong disease.”

“You’ve got a problem that is lifelong in duration,” Mudd told Lieggi. “If this was your first offense, I may feel comfort in some treatment program.”