Man Accused of Molesting 4 Girls in OC Dies During Trial

A 65-year-old man charged with sexually assaulting four girls he was related to in Trabuco Canyon died as jurors were deliberating in his trial, according to court records obtained Tuesday.

Luke John Whitlinger was facing 13 felony sexual assault felonies in his trial, but it was determined Thursday he had died and the case was dismissed, according to court records. It was unclear how he died.

Whitlinger was facing 243 years to life in prison if convicted of all the charges, according to a trial brief from Deputy District Attorney Alyssa Staudinger.

Whitlinger and his now-divorced wife were legal guardians of one of the victims and her brother, and he was related to two other victims, Staudinger said.

The mother of one of the victims and her brother was struggling to care for them so asked Whitlinger and his wife to take them in, the prosecutor said. The two children went to live with Whitlinger and his then-wife when they were 2 and 4 years old, the prosecutor said.

Whitlinger’s ex-wife was having dinner with family in July 2020 when a relative told her one of the victims disclosed she had been molested, Staudinger said.

The defendant’s wife left her home with one of the girls and brought her to another family member, who said she also had been molested by Whitlinger, Staudinger said.

In September 2020, one of the girls came forward to authorities, the prosecutor said.

One of the girls said she had been molested by Whitlinger for as long as she could remember, starting when she was 8 or 9, Staudinger said.

Whitlinger would give the girl money and threaten “consequences” if she told anyone about the abuse, Staudinger said.

The mother who asked the defendant to care for her children accused Whitlinger of forcing her to have sex with him in exchange for seeing her kids, Staudinger said. She also recalled repressed memories of the defendant molesting her as a child when she was as young as 6 years old, the prosecutor said.

Another girl said she was molested when she was about 11 years old, the prosecutor said. Most of the molestations occurred during a shower, while bathing or at the defendant’s swimming pool or jacuzzi, the prosecutor said.