An Oceano man found guilty in October of six felony charges relating to sex crimes against three children was sentenced Tuesday to 60 years to life in state prison, according to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.
Robert Elias Palomo, 30, was sentenced by San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge John Trice for his conviction by a jury on three counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration against a child under 10 and three counts of a lewd act upon a child.
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The crimes involved three young girls, all South County residents, between the ages of 5 and 10 at the time of the molestations.
The crimes took place in Grover Beach and Oceano, according to investigators. The incidents occurred between 2007 and 2010. The case was investigated by the Grover Beach Police Department and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
Guardians of the children involved said that the victims have suffered emotionally from the abuse, and that one of the girls doesn’t like to be touched and fears coming out of her room at night.
“They have been through hell,” said a guardian of two of the girls in a report. Palomo, who is Hispanic, said in the report that he is innocent and that the jury did not consist of his peers because “all members were over the age of 50 and white.”
“None of their family members were convicted of any crimes, so they could not relate to what he was going through,” the report states Palomo told probation officials.
Palomo also said he was physically abused, but not sexually, as a child and family ties thrust him into a gang at a young age.
The San Luis Obispo County Probation Department recommended the 60-years-to-life sentence, saying “these young girls’ lives have been permanently changed forever” and that the defendant’s actions were “cruel, vicious and callous.”
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