A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s custody assistant was sentenced Friday to three years in state prison following his no contest plea in a case in which he was charged with forcing a female inmate to engage in sex acts while she was at the department’s Lancaster station in 2019.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Craig Veals also ordered Daniel Joseph Everts, now 30, to register as a sex offender for 20 years.
Over the prosecution’s objection, Everts pleaded no contest March 7 to one felony count each of forcible oral copulation, oral copulation under the color of authority and sexual activity with a detained inmate involving the June 17, 2019, crimes.
In a statement read in court by Deputy District Attorney John Perroni on her behalf, the victim said, “You forced me to engage in sexual activity against my will and completely violated and humiliated me. After what happened, my life spiraled out of control and ultimately led me to where I am today. Unfortunately, I couldn’t seek help in time, and now I’m incarcerated in a Florida prison away from my beautiful children, suffering from flashbacks, nightmares and lack of trust for the very officers I have to face every day.”
She told Everts in the statement that she has forgiven him, but “will never forget the suffering you have caused me.”
During last week’s hearing, the defendant said he “wanted to apologize to the victim and the victim’s family for the selfish act I committed six years ago.” He said he was “truly sorry.”
The judge wound up postponing the sentencing a week after the victim sent the court a message in which she wrote that “prison is not a rehab for anyone and he won’t get the proper help” in such a facility. She added, “If probation can help him be a better person, I would rather have him (receive) that.”
When both sides returned to court following the weeklong delay, defense attorney Carlos Iriarte asked the judge to impose probation or a suspended state prison term that Everts wouldn’t serve unless he violated the terms of probation.
The prosecutor acknowledged the victim’s “extraordinary act of forgiveness,” but said he believed the defendant’s conduct still “warrants a prison sentence.”
The judge had agreed during the July 25 hearing that probation was “completely inappropriate here” and said that “this was a real wrong,” but wound up imposing the three-year prison term after considering the victim’s request rather than the six-year term that had been requested last week by the prosecutor.
The case against Everts was filed after an investigation by the sheriff’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau.