Trabuco Canyon Man Gets 6 Years for Molesting Girls : Courts: The stable worker had befriended his four victims’ families. Their parents tell of the pain he caused.

A former stable handyman was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for molesting four young girls whose families he had befriended.

During the hearing, the girls’ parents spoke of the pain that Ray Rowe, 48, of Trabuco Canyon, caused the children and their families.

“The victims did not speak, but they all wanted him to go away as long as possible,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Nancy du Pont.

She said additional evidence was presented about a fifth victim whose alleged molestation took place too long ago for authorities to file charges.

South Orange County Municipal Court Judge Ronald P. Kreber sentenced Rowe to the term that prosecutors and defense attorneys had previously agreed upon in exchange for Rowe’s guilty pleas. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of lewd conduct with a child and two felony and two misdemeanor molestation charges.

Prosecutors sought to nullify the agreement after police confirmed Rowe’s statement that he had a prior assault conviction for stabbing his wife’s lover in Texas in the early 1970s, but the judge declined to do so.

Three of the girls were 12 when the molestation took place, and the other was 11, officials said.

Deputy Public Defender Marri Derby, who represented Rowe, said her client is a “sick” man who cannot control his sexual urges. Derby said she could not quarrel with the sentence, but expressed concerns that a prison term will not help rehabilitate her client.

“He is extremely remorseful and he knows he has problems. He truly feels very bad for what he has done,” Derby said.

She said Rowe was a victim of child molestation and grew up to repeat the behavior. Derby said more needs to be done to help treat sexual offenders so they will not offend again.

The first molestation took place in Tustin in 1991 after Rowe persuaded the girl’s parents to let him take her fishing. Rowe has a young daughter and told the parents he was seeking out a companion for his own child.

Rowe was arrested last year after molesting a second girl who was visiting a Trabuco Canyon area stable to ride horses. Two additional victims came forward after learning of his arrest.