Repeat Offender Found Guilty of Molestation

James Crummel, a convicted pedophile who became the focus of angry demonstrations by his Newport Beach neighbors two years ago, was found guilty Wednesday in Superior Court on two counts of molesting an Orange County teenager four years ago.

Crummel, 55, faces a maximum sentence of 60 years to life. With a long record of child molestation convictions, he is now serving a prison term for molesting three other boys and is awaiting a murder trial in Riverside County.

A hearing was set for April 2 to determine whether Wednesday’s convictions deserve enhanced penalties under the state’s three-strikes law. Without the enhancement, Crummel would spend a maximum of 16 years in prison.

According to authorities, Crummel drugged and molested the boy when the teenager was under the care of former psychiatrist Burnell Forgey, with whom he shared a Newport Beach condominium.

Forgey, 81, has been charged with six counts of child molestation involving the same youth. His trial is scheduled April 12.

In 1997, Newport Beach police distributed fliers to residents of the Newport Crest complex where Crummel and Forgey lived, alerting them of Crummel’s presence.

Crummel was one of the first Orange County targets of Megan’s Law, which allows authorities to notify residents of any high-risk sex offenders living in their midst.

Residents picketed his home and demanded his eviction, and later that of Forgey.

Authorities began investigating both men in 1997 after they received information that Crummel may have accompanied Forgey on visits to youth homes where the psychiatrist treated troubled teenagers.

The murder charges that Crummel faces in Riverside County involve the death of a Costa Mesa boy who disappeared in 1979 while on his way to school.