CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / ROSSMOOR
A Huntington Beach man who broke into an 83-year-old widow’s home and sexually assaulted her during a botched burglary attempt was sentenced to 62 years to life in prison Friday.
The victim was watching television in her Rossmoor home the evening of July 12, 2006, when Jeffrey Miller, 38, entered the residence by jumping a fence, removing a window screen and crawling through a bathroom window.
Miller threatened to kill the woman, forced her to the floor and hit her in the head and ribs. He then ransacked jewelry and valuables and assaulted her in various rooms of the house while wearing gardening gloves, according to Orange County prosecutors.
A neighbor who saw Miller hop the fence called 911; Orange County sheriff’s deputies surrounded the house with patrol cars and a helicopter.
Authorities arrested Miller as he attempted to flee out a back door.
The victim, whose family perished in concentration camps in the former Czechoslovakia, told authorities she was as fearful after her attack as in World War II. At home, she said, she still suffers flashbacks of the incident.
-- Susannah Rosenblatt
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