Man Pleads Guilty to Child Molestation
A Rancho Palos Verdes man who police said preyed upon runaway boys in Van Nuys pleaded guilty Tuesday to 40 counts of child molestation and 32 counts of giving drugs to minors.
Russell A. Kraus, 27, lured the youths to a Van Nuys apartment that he maintained for a time last year by offering them video games and drugs, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Fisch said.
By the time police had completed their investigation, Kraus had returned to his parents’ home in Rancho Palos Verdes, police said. When police raided that home last summer, they found marijuana, LSD and sexually explicit photographs of young boys, the prosecutor said.
Fisch said Kraus faces a maximum term of 92 years when he is sentenced May 11, but that Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Leon Kaplan indicated that he would send him to jail for about 30 years.
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