Ramona man pleads guilty to sex with minor
A Ramona man who pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl who is developmentally disabled faces sentencing on Nov. 23.
Jeremy Richard Turney, 29, could get up to one year in county jail along with probation conditions, said Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle. The maximum sentence is three years in prison, but the DA’s office agreed not to oppose a jail term of one year in local custody.
El Cajon Superior Court Judge Patricia Cookson set sentencing for the Monday before Thanksgiving. Turney remains free on his own recognizance.
The girl’s mother said she is “outraged” and described the situation as “a mother’s worst nightmare.” The mother and victim lived on the same street in Ramona as Turney.
“We have been harassed,” the mother told the
Ramona Sentinel
- “We had to move. This is a predator. He has no remorse.”
The mother said she had discussed the situation with sheriff’s deputies before moving.
“He took advantage of her. She has the mind of a 10-year-old girl,” she said. “This is a disabled child. She’s not a promiscuous young lady.”
The mother said Turney began talking to her daughter as she walked in the neighborhood. She said her daughter told her he asked for her name and age and she told him.
The mother said Turney drove her daughter to a wooded area and had sex with the teen. She said several days later, her daughter told her “he took my clothes off and hurt me.” The girl said she was “too scared” at the time and didn’t know what to do.
The mother said she wanted Turney to have to register as a sex offender, but the prosecutor said that requirement does not come with the statutory rape charge to which Turney admitted. A second sex charge was dismissed after he pleaded guilty on Sept. 10.
A message was left with Turney’s attorney, Will Wolf, but he could not be reached for comment after two attempts were made to contact him.
On court documents, Turney signed his name to a statement his attorney wrote that said he “unlawfully engaged in sexual intercourse with a minor who is more than three years younger than me and is not my spouse.”
Also on Nov. 23, Turney will be sentenced for violating terms of his probation on a misdemeanor drunk driving charge. Court records show that Turney pleaded guilty June 18 to misdemeanor drunk driving in a May 3 incident, and was fined $1,952, and placed on five years probation in El Cajon Superior Court.
Turney was ordered to complete a course with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and was credited for one day in jail. His probation was revoked on Aug. 20 after the felony sex case was filed against him.
Doyle said that Turney getting a felony case filed against him just two months after being placed on probation will not help him. He could be sentenced to six months in jail on the drunk driving case.