SAN DIEGO – A judge in Santa Ana, Calif., sentenced a toe-sucking youth rec leader to life in prison on Friday.
Trenton Michael Veches, 32, of Newport Beach, Calif., was found guilty in May of 22 lewd acts.
A co-worker reported seeing Veches sucking on a boy’s toes in April 2002. Investigators later found pictures on Veches’ computer.
All the boys were between 8 and 11, prosecutors said.
Veches’ mother, Joyce Ormes, thought his conviction and sentence were both unfair.
I don’t know how he can spend life in prison for this when there was no sexual contact with the genitals, things like that," Ormes said. “And he didn’t prey on these children like it was made to look like in the court. I think the parents did more damage to their kids by making them testify in that courtroom.”
Deputy District Attorney Sheila Hanson said Veches’ actions were sexual in nature and that he was guilty of the crimes he was convicted of.
“He did have physical contact with their toes, and at least with one victim, other parts of that boy’s body,” Hanson said. “When you look at all the evidence in this case, not just the description of what he did to each of these children, but look at the pictures that he actually saved and what he said about those pictures and what he felt about those pictures, clearly Mr. Veches posed a danger to the children of our community, and he needed to be in prison.”
Defense attorney John Dolan said in May that Veches acknowledged the behavior but pleaded not guilty because the conduct was not sexual and therefore not against the law. Dolan said during the trial that Veches’ actions were “nothing more than horseplay.”
Veches will be eligible for parole in 2018. If the judge in the case, Richard Toohey, had ordered Veches to serve his sentences consecutively instead of concurrently, Veches would not have been eligible until 2048