COUNTYWIDE : Caller Found Guilty of Child Molestation
A day after pleading guilty to making terrorist phone calls to Ventura County women, a Los Angeles man was convicted of child molestation.
With the new conviction, Steven Imler, 37, faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 6.
Investigators said Imler called more than 500 women, mostly in Ventura County, over an 18-month period and threatened to harm their husbands unless they performed various sexual acts. Arrested in March, he pleaded guilty Monday to nine counts of making terrorist phone calls.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones conducted a brief nonjury trial on the molestation count. Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrice Koenig said Imler called a 12-year-old boy and ordered him to perform sex acts, and said that constituted molestation.
On Tuesday, Jones agreed and issued a guilty verdict. Imler’s attorney, Richard M. Moore, said previously that he intended to appeal if the verdict was guilty.
Imler remains free on $5,000 bail.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
