April 5, 2024 - ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- On Thursday, April 4, 2024, the Honorable Judge Penney sentenced Stephen Stubbs, age 61 and Brandon Frank, age 33, to life without the possibility of parole in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for lewd acts on a child, forcible lewd acts on a child under 14, aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14, possession of child pornography, and more. This also includes allegations that the defendants administered a controlled substance to the minor, and engaged in tying and binding the victim during the commission of the crimes.

This case relates to the two predators who repeatedly assaulted a minor and recorded many of their acts on video. Mr. Stubbs was already registered as a sex offender due to a prior conviction but had failed to register in Placer County to reflect his move into Frank’s home in Loomis.

In Feb. 2020, a “cyber tip” from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) was referred to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, directing them to investigate an address in Loomis. The cyber tip from NCMEC revealed content featuring sexual acts committed by two adult men upon a child, which had been uploaded to a cloud-based storage site.

After an interview at the Placer County MDIC and Children's Advocacy Center(MDIC), it was found that the victim had endured years of grooming, mental suffering and abuse at the hands of the defendants, who acted in concert during the commission of many of their crimes.

Detectives from the Placer County Sheriff's Office reviewed a large amount of video and photographic content that documented the abuse and forwarded their findings to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.

As a result of the Placer County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation, the Placer County District Attorney’s Office filed multiple charges of lewd acts on a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child and more.

On January 26, a Placer County jury found the defendants guilty after considering extensive testimony and physical evidence presented from the District Attorney’s Office, Placer County Sheriff’s Office, and the victim, among other witnesses. The trial began in November 2023, and was presided over by the Honorable Jeffrey Penney.

The court also found allegations that defendant Stubbs had been previously convicted of committing a lewd act on a child, as well as several factors in aggravation, including that the crimes involved a high degree of cruelty and callousness, that the victim was particularly vulnerable, and that the defendants took advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the offenses, to be true.

This case was prosecuted by Supervising Deputy District Attorney Anna Duffy who leads the office’s Sexual Assault Unit.

This month marks Child Abuse Prevention Month. The Placer County District Attorney’s Office is encouraging community members to know the signs of child abuse and if they see something, say something. Residents can learn more about the signs, resources and events for the month here: placer.ca.gov/7881/Child-Abuse-Prevention-Month


Source and photo: Placer County Sheriffs' Office