Santa Rosa Man Sentenced For Sex With Drugged Teens
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) - A Santa Rosa man was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison Monday morning for having sex with three underage girls after providing them with drugs and alcohol.
John Heglin, 51, was convicted Feb. 23 in Sonoma County Superior Court of 15 felony counts related to the sexual encounters, which occurred in his Bennett Valley home in 2009.
The girls were 15 and 16 at the time, and two of them suffered from mental disabilities.
Judge Dana Beernink Simonds told Heglin he manipulated the girls by providing drugs and alcohol and promising them he could get them into the pornography film industry.
Simonds sentenced Heglin to 19 years and eight months in prison. He was sentenced to nine years for giving a controlled substance to a minor and to consecutive eight-month terms on the remaining sexual offenses.
The jury acquitted Heglin of forcible rape and rape of a drugged or intoxicated person.
Heglin apologized to the girls' families and blamed his behavior on drug use.
"Drugs just got a hold of me. Once you start, it's endless," he said.
"I meant no harm. It was just insanity," Heglin said.
Simonds said Heglin's apology was "perfunctory" and that she agreed with Deputy District Attorney Tashawn Sanders that Heglin was aware the girls were under 18 years old.
She said the victims were "particularly and especially vulnerable."
One of the victims was Heglin's neighbor and was friends with Heglin's teenage son.
"The bottom line is, you were the adult," Simonds said. "You should have been protecting those children, but you chose to use their bodies for your own selfish desires and sexual gratification."
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