Plea Bargain in Molestation Case Rejected

A judge refused Wednesday to sentence a former schoolteacher who pleaded guilty to molesting four students, saying he finds the plea bargain agreed to by both sides inappropriate.

Don Ray Moore had pleaded guilty in exchange for a reduced prison sentence of 12 years. However, when the moment of sentencing arrived, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael R. Hoff said, “Based on the probation report, I find I cannot endorse the case settlement.”

The report, prepared to guide Hoff in sentencing, contains statements made by alleged victims of the veteran fifth-grade teacher, who lived in the South Bay area and taught in South-Central Los Angeles during most of his 20-year career.

The judge sent the case back to a Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing Friday.

The 56-year-old Moore, who taught for 16 years at the 97th Street School, jumped bail shortly after his arrest three years ago, living as a transient and losing contact with his wife, children and grandchildren.

He was captured in July in a Ventura County homeless camp after authorities received a tip from a gas company employee. The worker had seen the well-spoken man he remembered meeting near the Hobo Jungle riverbed camp on a segment of the television program “America’s Most Wanted.”

Under last month’s plea bargain arrangement, Moore admitted guilt on four felony counts of child molestation involving young girls. The proposed 12-year sentence would have made him eligible for release in six years.

Prosecutors agreed to drop 17 additional counts as well as dozens of misdemeanor counts, which could have put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Moore’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender John Powers, said his client now wants to withdraw his guilty plea.

“Twenty minutes after he entered his plea, he told me, ‘I’ve made a terrible mistake,’ ” Powers said. “He initially felt it was a compromise to save everyone the trauma. . . . But after further consideration, he decided he would rather spend the rest of his life in prison than admit to something he didn’t do.”

Wearing jail blues and appearing confident, Moore boomed, “I certainly do,” when asked whether he agreed to the rescheduled proceedings.

At Friday’s hearing, Municipal Judge Elva R. Soper could reject Moore’s plea withdrawal request and send the case to another Superior Court judge for imposition of the sentence, or resume proceedings against him on all 21 felony counts.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ryan Rainey said that the victims, now 18 to 20 years old, at first voiced relief when Moore pleaded guilty, because it meant that they would not have to go through the ordeal of testifying. But they became upset at learning that he had negotiated a light sentence, saying they believe their alleged assailant “should be locked away forever.”

Rainey said the young women now want to testify.

Moore is accused of lewd and lascivious acts with children under 14 between 1981 and 1984.