Crime & Safety

Laguna Beach Man Gets Nine Years For Child Porn Possession

Nicholas James Needham faces further sentencing next month for molesting a 5-year-old boy.

A Laguna Beach man facing sentencing next month for molesting a 5-year-old boy in a shopping mall restroom in Orange was sentenced today to nine years in federal prison for possession of child pornography.

Nicholas James Needham pleaded guilty in federal court on Oct. 5. The child porn possession charges were originally brought in state court, but Orange County Deputy District Attorney Jess Rodriguez asked federal prosecutors to take the case because punishment in federal court is tougher. The difference was months versus years in prison, according to Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, Needham pleaded guilty Oct. 14 before an Orange County Superior Court judge to felony count of lewd acts on a child younger than 14. That plea bargain deal is expected to see him sentenced on March 15 to six years in state prison, a punishment that is expected to run concurrently with the federal sentence, according to Deputy District Attorney Whitney Bokosky.

Find out what's happening in Laguna Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney today accepted the plea bargain struck by federal prosecutors, in which Needham will be on supervised release for the rest of his life and must continue registering as a sex offender; cannot live within 2,000 feet where children congregate; and must serve at least 85 percent of his time in federal custody.

Needham would otherwise have faced 10 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but Carney gave the defendant credit for sparing witnesses, jurors and other court officials having to view the evidence in the case.

Find out what's happening in Laguna Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I like to think I have a hardened exterior, but it would be very disturbing,'' Carney said. "We would have to consider giving them psychological counseling. I recognize what he did to prevent us from going through that."

Needham, who pleaded guilty in federal court just as his case was about to go to trial, had about 45,000 images of child pornography on his iPod, Carney said. He said Needham had a sex offense conviction as a juvenile.

The state's case against Needham involved the defendant touching the genitals of a 5-year-old boy in a bathroom at the Outlets at Orange, which was known then as the Block at Orange, on June 15, 2010, according to Rodriguez. The boy told his mother, who saw the suspect and called police, but Needham had left the area by the time officers arrived.

After reviewing store surveillance video, investigators determined the suspect had bought something at a Jamba Juice store and traced the credit card transaction back to Needham, Rodriguez said. Initially, police said a search of Needham's home in July 2010 uncovered about 29,000 photographs and three child porn videos on the defendant's iPod, Rodriguez said.

At least one video was taken at in Laguna Beach, and the youngsters ranged in age from "young teenagers all the way down to infants," Rodriguez said.

—City News Service


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.