On Thursday, Dec. 24, a former school bus driver was sentenced to 151 years to life in prison for lewd conduct and other crimes against three little girls.
Buena Park resident Terry Lee Shields, 55, reportedly met two of his known victims while working as a school bus driver for Los Alamitos Unified School District.
Under California law, victims are allowed to make a statement during the sentencing hearing.
The mother of two of Shields’ victims—Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3—asked that Shields receive the maximum sentence.
She said she would never know everything he had done to the youngest of her two daughters because Jane Doe #3 is developmentally disabled.
According to Farrah Emami, spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s office, Shields abused Jane Doe #3 from the time she was 4-and-a-half years old until she was 6.
On Dec. 16, a jury convicted Shields of 15 counts of lewd conduct with three girls between 2001 and 2004.
Lewd conduct is the term used in California law to describe a sexual assault upon a child. Shields was also convicted of kidnapping and taking pornographic pictures of his victims.
Child pornography may be defined as a visual recording of a child being violated by an adult.
When his conviction was made public, the DA’s office issued a statement that he could be sentenced to 207 years to life.
At the time, Emami said that Shields would not be eligible for parole until he had served 207 years.
However, on Christmas Eve, the judge sentenced Shields to 151 years to life in prison.
According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Shields, reportedly gained regular access to Jane Doe # 2, then age 11, and her sister Jane Doe #3, when he began abusing the girls.
Shields’ third victim was an Anaheim school child identified as Jane Doe #1, who was 7 when he kidnapped and abuse her. According to the DA’s office, he promised her a trip to Disneyland.
He assaulted her and took explicit pictures of her—something he apparently did with all three of his known victims.
The crimes against the sisters Jane Doe # 2 and Jane Doe # 3 apparently occurred between November 2000 and December 2003.
Shields was arrested on Oct. 4, 2006 on unrelated child pornography charges. At the time, first time possession of child pornography was a misdemeanor.
On Oct. 4, 2006, Shields was in a Bellflower cyber café, viewing images of crimes against children in full view of the public.
According to the DA’s Office, a café employee flagged down a passing police officer to alert law enforcement about Shields, who was arrested at the scene.
Other accounts have said customers contacted law enforcement.
In either case, Shields was found to be in possession of dozens of computer files depicting child pornography. The files reportedly contained thousands of images of children.
According to the Orange County DA’s Office, further investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a federal task force called SAFE, led to the identification of Shields’ three known victims.
According to the National Association to Protect Children, roughly one in three child pornography investigations results in the identification of local victims.
However, Protect (as the organization prefers to call itself) also says law enforcement personnel nationwide only have the resources to investigate 2 percent of the child pornography leads they have.
Shields has been in custody in the Orange County Jail since his Nov. 14, 2006 arrest on the charges stemming from his crimes against all three known victims.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Web site, Shields is a white adult male, 6 feet tall, weighs 350 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.
According to the DA’s office, Shields used to drive a 2002 burgundy Kia.
Crime Log Assembled by Charles M. Kelly
The crimes listed in the Sun Newspapers were reported to Seal Beach Police Department, Los Alamitos Police Department and Orange County Sheriff Department between Dec. 21 and Dec. 27, 2009.
Only street names are used; times given are reported times, not incident times.
Crime Log entries are based on preliminary information.
Space limitations make it impossible to publish every incident.
Until proven guilty in a court of law, all suspects are considered innocent.
IN ROSSMOOR
Monday, December 21
Vehicle Burglary in Progress—12:05 p.m.—Montecito Road.
Suspicious Person in Vehicle—1:29 p.m.—Montecito Road.
Tuesday, December 22
Suspicious Person in Vehicle—7:16 p.m.—Huntley Drive.
Wednesday, December 23
Vehicle Burglary Report—7:40 a.m.—Montecito Road.
Fraud Report—10:27 a.m.—Martha Ann Drive.
Thursday, December 24
Stolen Vehicle Located—4:26 a.m.—Los Alamitos Boulevard.
Stolen Vehicle—1:05 p.m.—Donnie Ann Road.
IN SUNSET BEACH
Saturday, December 26
Assist Outside Agency—1:45 a.m.—Pacific Coast Highway.
