Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is facing recall after giving a child molester an unusually short sentence for the crime committed.
Hannah Tubbs was a few weeks away from turning 18 when she grabbed a 10-year-old girl by the throat and pushed her inside a bathroom stall. The incident happened in 2014 at a Denny’s restaurant in Los Angeles.
After locking the child into a stall, Tubbs stuck her hands down the child’s pants and molested her. The assault only stopped when someone came into the restroom.
Tubbs ended up pleading guilty to sexual assault and was sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility. Fox Los Angeles reports that Tubbs, who identifies as a transgender woman, bragged to her father that she wouldn’t be charged as an adult.
“Don’t worry about it,” Tubbs told her dad. “It’s a strike, but they’re gonna plead, I’m going plead out to them and plead guilty.”
Tubbs: “They’re gonna stick me on probation, and it’s gonna be dropped, it’s gonna be done, I won’t have to register, won’t have to do nothing.”
Tubbs’ Father: “You won’t have to register?” her father asked on the other line later in the conversation.
Tubbs: “I won’t have to do none of that.”
Tubbs’ Father: “So what are they going to do to you then?”
Tubbs (laughing) “Nothing.”
On Sunday, Gascón reportedly admitted that had he known Tubbs’ “disregard for the harm” she caused the victim, he would have handed out a strong sentence.
“While for most people several years of jail time is adequate, it may not be for Ms. Tubbs,” Gascón said in the statement.
“If we knew about her disregard for the harm she caused we would have handled this case differently. The complex issues and facts of her particular case were unusual, and I should have treated them that way.”
According to court documents, Tubbs was diagnosed with numerous mental illnesses, which could qualify him for “developmentally disabled,” and it was something that Gascón took into account during sentencing.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Gascón was also concerned about Tubbs being victimized as a transgender female if placed in an adult facility, and opted instead for a juvenile facility where Tubbs could get mental health treatment.
In light of the incident, Gascón said that his office has “now implemented policies to create a different pathway for outlier cases while simultaneously creating protections to prevent these exceptions from becoming the rule.”
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[Feature Photo: Hannah Tubbs/Police Handout]
