A sober-living resident was sentenced Friday to 250 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a girl and boy, ages 4 and 5, in Anaheim.

Prosecutors said the convicted man was a best friend of the victims’ parents.

Thomas Austin Farmer, 44, was convicted Jan. 19 of multiple felony counts of sexually assaulting the children from June 2013 through April 2014, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown.

The victims were living with their parents and an infant sister in an Anaheim motel room when Farmer sexually abused them, Brown said.

Farmer, who was best friends with the parents, would offer to take the children for sleepovers under the pretense of giving the couple a break, Brown said.

Farmer, who would also take the children out to buy toys, would bring the girl and boy over to the sober living home he lived in and helped manage so he could sexually assault them there, Brown said.

Farmer initially denied the assaults to police, but later confessed during his interrogation and declared he was a “monster” who should be locked up, Brown said. The defendant, however, testified during the trial that he was coerced into a confession, which was videotaped, the prosecutor said.

Farmer was given the maximum punishment, Brown said.

—City News Service

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