Donohoo’s attorney, Charles Cassy, said his client’s guilty plea was centered on concerns about putting his victims through more emotional turmoil. Donohoo pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault for each of his three victims, and the charges carried a special allegation that there were multiple victims.Donohoo will be facing 45 years to life in prison next year when he is sentenced January 15. He had escaped other charges due to the statue of limitations.
Former Santa Paula resident pleads guilty to child sexual assaults
December 17, 2008
Santa Paula News
A 60-year-old Ventura County man who had lived in Santa Paula last week decided to plead guilty to sexually assaulting three young girls, the day after testimony in his trial began.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesA 60-year-old Ventura County man who had lived in Santa Paula last week decided to plead guilty to sexually assaulting three young girls, the day after testimony in his trial began. Patrick Donohoo, who has lived in Camarillo, Santa Paula and Ventura, was on trial for 27 counts of lewd acts upon a child and one count of continuous sexual abuse.After emotional testimony from a 15-year-old girl, who testified on December 1 that Donohoo first molested her when she was in grade school on sleepovers with her cousin and that Donohoo showed her pornographic movies, Donohoo entered the guilty plea on December 2. The second victim’s testimony was that she suffered sexual abuse that occurred from the time she was 4 years old until she was 13. The child molestations took place from 1995 to 2006, and the girls’ ages ranged from 4 to 13 years.
