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A babysitter from California was sentenced to 100 years of life in state prison on Thursday for participating with her boyfriend in the sexual abuse of several girls she was hired to care for. Brittney Mae Lyon, 31, along with her boyfriend, Samuel Cabrera, was arrested in 2016 after one of the victims disclosed the abuse to her mother. Lyon, who advertised babysitting services online and told parents she was especially interested in working with children with special needs, sexually abused several young girls and allowed her boyfriend to abuse them as well.The victims were between 3 and 7 years old, as per prosecutors. Two had been diagnosed with autism, and one was nonverbal, reported NBC San Diego. Lyon was sentenced to 100 years to life in prison on August 14. Cabrera was convicted by a jury in 2019 and, in 2021, received eight life sentences without the possibility of parole. Under California parole laws, Lyon will be eligible to petition for parole at age 50, which means she could serve as little as 19 years behind bars.“After the horrific sexual crimes Brittney Lyon committed against children, District Attorney Summer Stephan did her job in securing a just sentence of 100 years-to-life,” State senate minority leader Brian Jones said as quoted by the New York Post. “What made her the perfect vehicle for these crimes was the benign and harmless nature of her appearance, her background, the way she presented herself to these victims’ parents. She seemed like the perfect babysitter, the perfect person someone could trust,” deputy district attorney Jodi Breton was quoted as saying by NBC San Diego. At Thursday morning’s sentencing, several parents of the victims spoke of the trust they had placed in Lyon and their devastation upon discovering the abuse.”You knew how to win our trust and manipulate to get what you want,” a woman said, recounting how Lyon had requested to take her autistic daughter on outings, supposedly to support her studies for a child development degree. “You are the most sick and evil monster that society has. What you did to these innocent and most helpless of children, without any conscience, care or concern, or ounce of remorse, is unfathomable,” said another woman whose daughter was 3-and-a-half years old at the time of the abuse. “We let you into our home and into our lives. Because of that, my family has endured almost 10 years of suffering and pain. The betrayal is a wound that has never healed,” said the mother of the then 7-year-old girl, the victim whose disclosure ultimately led to the couple’s arrest. Text messages between Lyon and Cabrera reportedly revealed her “bartering” access to a child in exchange for being taken out on dates, said attorney Jodi Breton. Lyon’s defense attorney, Sloan Ostbye, read a letter from her in which she offered an apology to the victims’ families.”The words `I’m sorry’ are far too simple for the amount of trauma I’ve caused and the amount of regret I feel. … You trusted me to keep your children safe and instead I placed them in harm’s way. My actions were selfish, inconsiderate and thoughtless to everyone involved,” the letter read.
