Man Convicted of Molestation
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury Wednesday convicted a 49-year-old Palmdale man of molesting children while posing as an employee of the county’s Department of Children’s Services, a prosecutor said.
It took one day of deliberation for jurors to find Richard Russell Burris guilty of 11 felony counts, for which he could be sentenced to a maximum of 21 years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Powers said.
Burris told parents he was a children’s services worker investigating child-molestation complaints and needed to examine their daughters in private, Powers said.
He molested a 6-year-old Glendale girl and a 7-year-old Pacoima girl before being caught, Powers said. Burris carried a forged Department of Children’s Services identification card and preyed upon immigrant children who knew little of the county bureaucracy, she added.
“He’s very, very dangerous,” Powers said.
Sentencing was scheduled for June 18.
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.
