Lawyer admits he molested 2 boys
A Ladera Ranch attorney and former congressional aide pleaded guilty Wednesday to molesting two teenage boys, authorities said.
Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, 37, will be sentenced April 18 to three years in state prison, according to a plea deal. A jury had been unable to reach a verdict in the case earlier this year, but Nielsen confessed when Orange County prosecutors obtained additional evidence.
Nielsen, a former aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), met one 14-year-old victim on the Internet and drove him to his condominium for sex, authorities said. Prosecutors also charged that Nielsen molested a 13-year-old boy repeatedly at the victim’s family home in 1994.
When Westminster police arrested Nielsen in 2003, investigators found thousands of images of child pornography on his home and work computers.
“It was time to settle these cases,” Nielsen’s attorney, Paul Meyer, said.
--
-- David Reyes
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.
