L.A. County sheriff’s detective sentenced for assaulting girl in a case he investigated

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective was sentenced today to three years in state prison for having sex with a 15-year- old girl he met when she came forward to report that she had been a victim of a sexual assault.

Neil David Kimball, 46, of Agoura, was also ordered to register as a sex offender in connection with his guilty plea last month to one felony count each of committing a lewd act on a child and unlawful sexual intercourse.

Kimball — who was working at the time as a detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau — met the teenager in 2017 when she made her sexual assault report, and he befriended her, according to a statement released by the Ventura County district attorney’s office.

The crimes occurred in Ventura County in late 2017, prosecutors said.

Kimball was arrested last November by the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau following an in-house investigation. He has remained behind bars since then.

The Sheriff’s Department had previously said that it was fully cooperating with Ventura County prosecutors and “has now obtained court documents to proceed with his [Kimball’s] immediate termination.”

“We hold our employees to the highest ethical standard and when that standard is not met, there must be consequences,” the statement said.

The Times reported last year that Kimball investigated dozens of child molestation cases during his time with the sheriff’s Special Victims Unit.