Teen Says She Was Molested for Years by Former Deputy

A girl who regarded Kevin Carney as a father figure testified Wednesday that the former sheriff’s sergeant molested her numerous times over eight or nine years, mostly in his Lancaster office and at her home, and gave her alcohol before sexually assaulting her.

The girl, now 15, said she remembered Carney as friendly and nice. “He’d take me to Baskin-Robbins. He took me to Toys R Us. He took me to the movies,” she said.

In an even tone of voice, the girl testified that Carney first molested her less than a month after they met. As she testified, she glanced at the defendant, who is also a former Palmdale City Councilman and school board president.

Carney, 49, is charged with 16 molestation-related offenses involving four girls. His defense attorney, Milton Grimes, contends that the victims are not credible and that the allegations may have been politically motivated because they arose just before his election last year to the City Council.

Carney, who faces a maximum punishment of multiple life sentences, has resigned his council seat. He is free on $500,000 bail.

On Wednesday, the girl testified that she was too scared to tell her mother about the molestations, which she said occurred about “two or three times a month,” sometimes in the office where Carney worked as a supervisor for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s child abuse unit.