Judge sentences party clown to 38 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child

A part-time birthday party clown received a 38-year state prison sentence Wednesday for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in Huntington Beach, Orange County Superior Court records show.

Gualberto Torres-Vargas, 40, pleaded guilty to one count each of continuous sexual abuse, sodomy by force of a child under 14 years old, performing a lewd act on a child under 14 and forcible rape.

Torres-Vargas was arrested on Nov. 19, 2015 by Huntington Beach police officers responding to a child molestation call at a local residence.

Prosecutors charged Torres-Vargas with sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl between Nov. 1, 2014 and Nov. 9, 2015. The victim allegedly told her mother, who notified Huntington Beach police.

Though jail records identify Torres-Vargas as a cook, he also worked as a children’s party clown on the weekends.

He did not meet his victim while at a children’s party, authorities said at the time of his arrest.

Torres-Vargas will be eligible for parole following his 38-year sentence. He is being detained at Theo Lacy Facility in Orange, records show.

julia.sclafani@latimes.com