Judge sentences Turlock man heard on phone calls speaking of child sexual abuse
A Stanislaus County judge has sentenced a 35-year-old Turlock man to 25 years and 8 months to life in prison for sexually abusing two girls, who were 8 and 9 years old when they were victimized.
A jury on Feb. 4 found Christopher Bonander guilty of five felony counts, including oral copulation of a child, committing lewd and lascivious acts upon a child younger than 14 years old and exhibiting harmful material to seduce a child. The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office announced the sentencing Monday in a Facebook post.
The jury did not convict Bonander on two of the seven charges listed in a criminal grand jury indictment filed in court March 9, 2018.
Bonander was arrested in July 2016 and has since been in custody awaiting prosecution. He remained at the Stanislaus County Jail Monday, awaiting transfer to a prison.
Turlock police investigators were notified of the abuse in April 2016. A police investigator obtained recorded phone conversations in which Bonander admitted to the girls’ mother that he committed the sexual abuse, according to prosecutors.
In 2014, Bonander started living with his then-girlfriend and her children. Prosecutors said the sexual abuse occurred from December 2015 through April 2016.
Bonander’s two-week trial included testimony from the victims. The jury also heard the recorded phone calls between Bonander and the mother.
Turlock police Detective Tim Redd asked the mother to call Bonander. Prosecutors said Bonander — in those recorded phone calls — admitted to her that he sexually abused one of the girls, and that he showed pornography to both girls.
Bonander testified in his trial, claiming he admitted to the sexual abuse just to appease his girlfriend, so she would agree to a reconciliation and allow him to move back in, according to prosecutors. The defendant refused to admit that he exposed himself to the girls.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees prosecuted Bonander. Superior Court Judge Robert Westbrook sentenced Bonander on Nov. 4.
If the defendant is released on parole, Bonander will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, prosecutors have said.