Child Molester at Day-Care Center Gets 40-Year Term

A day-care center operator’s husband, who admitted molesting five children at his wife’s center, was sentenced Monday to 40 years in state prison.

Cabray Scott, 53, of Santee, had pleaded guilty Sept. 6 to 12 counts of molesting four girls and a boy over six years.

The mother of a 9-year-old girl molested by Scott broke down and cried during her testimony at the sentencing before San Diego Municipal Judge Michael Orfield.

“What a price to pay for child care,” the mother said.

“The thought of your child being molested five out of her nine years. . . . Not once did he think of (the girl’s) well-being,” the mother said.

The mother concluded tearfully: “Don’t let him out.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dave Rubin urged the judge to “send a message that won’t be mistaken.”

“Our children are precious. This crime deserves the 40 years,” Rubin said.

Scott, who worked in the circulation department of the Union-Tribune Publishing Co. 23 years until his arrest June 12, told Orfield that he is remorseful.

“I have betrayed their (the children’s) trust. To my wife and daughter, I beg their forgiveness. I confess my guilt openly,” said Scott somberly, looking down while reading from a prepared statement.

“I shall live forever in a prison of my own mind,” he said.

His attorney, Michael Berg, said that Scott was raised in a strict, religious household as a youth, but was molested himself twice at ages 10 and 12 by customers on his newspaper route.

Berg said one man who molested him was “a preacher to whom he delivered newspapers.”

Berg suggested a 24-year term as more reasonable, saying Scott had lost his job, his wife and his home.

“Mr. Scott made a tragic mistake and is going to pay dearly for it,” Berg said.

Orfield also imposed a $1,000 fine.