“The events of August 19 will affect our entire family forever.” That was just a small part of the statement read in court Thursday by the mother of a young girl molested by a man in downtown San Luis Obispo earlier this year.
Jonathan Oscar Davis was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday, the maximum sentence allowed. He had pleaded guilty to child molestation and committing a lewd act on a child.
The 10-year-old victim reportedly told police that Davis, 48, had grabbed her buttocks and tried to pick her up at a downtown store on Aug. 19.
The girl’s 13-year-old sister reportedly screamed out when Davis grabbed the child, alerting their mother.
During the mother’s victim impact statement in court prior to Davis’ sentence being handed down, she told the court her older daughter “knew something was amiss the moment he cut them off walking into the store to get closer to the little girls.”
She went on to describe how the events of that day have impacted her family forever and provided her statement to KSBY, which reads in part:
“From small interactions with strangers to what should be normal everyday errands, a child will always question her surroundings. We will change our schedules and attend costly doctor appointments because of this. My views have been altered, as someone who has always been open to everyone’s story, that almost everyone deserves a chance, I will now move about questioning those around me. I was a child in this town, I shopped at Bath and Body Works at the age my children are now. I have countless memories downtown SLO over the past 30+ years, and this memory will now be the top of the list. No longer seeing Grease in the 90s with everyone in poodle skirts, dancing at Children’s Day in the Plaza or birthday dinners. How sad. As a parent now I have to question the safety of our beautiful downtown. Worry that adults, store managers, will disregard a child speaking up. As a very informed citizen, someone who has read the police log almost everyday for many years I know that I am right to question the safety of our downtown. Even if it pains me.”
Davis was already a registered sex offender and had three previous child molestation convictions, according to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office. He also has a conviction for first-degree burglary, which is considered a strike under California's Three Strikes Law.
Davis is required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
