Deveaux gets 50 years in prison
EL CENTRO – Diane Christina Deveaux briefly expressed some regret Wednesday prior to being sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for molesting two female relatives under 10 years old.
“I apologize to anyone that was affected by this,” the 36-year-old said.
Deveaux’s nine-word apology had been preceded by a lengthy statement from the mother of one of the victims.
The statement, which was read aloud by a county Victim Witness Assistance Program representative, recounted the profound love between mother and child, and the mother’s promise to protect her first child.
The statement then blamed Deveaux for preventing the victim’s mother from being able to keep that promise to her child.
The victim’s mother’s statement also expressed gratitude that the victim, who was about a year old at the time of the incident, has no recollection of Deveaux’s sexual abuse.
“Because of Diane I now think twice about the people my daughter is around, including family,” the victim’s mother’s statement read. “No parent should ever think family could be guilty of such a crime.”
In her statement, the victim’s mother also expressed uncertainty about whether she would one day tell her daughter what had transpired, or if it would be best for her to take the secret to her grave.
The victim’s mother also expressed deep satisfaction that Deveaux would no longer take any part in her child’s life or share in any of their joyful memories.
“This is a promise I can keep,” the victim’s mother’s statement read.
Deveaux had pleaded no contest on July 10 to two separate counts of performing forcible lewd acts on a child. On Wedneday she received 25 years to life imprisonment as part of her conviction for each of those counts. She was also given credit for having served 615 days in custody.
As part of the July 10 plea agreement, Deveaux had seven counts of oral copulation/sex with a minor 10 years or younger and six counts of forcible lewd act upon a child dismissed against her.
The charges had stemmed from a series of videos Deveaux filmed and shared with a 59-year-old Florida man she was dating who was arrested Feb. 13, 2017, by the Lake County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office investigators for possessing child pornography.
The videos in question depicted Deveaux performing lewd acts with two separate minor victims, who were identified as relatives, local Superior Court records stated.
Deveaux had reportedly broadcast the lewd acts to Richard Alton Morgan via webcam multiple times over a two-month period in 2010, when the two victims were respectively about 1 and 7 years old, the court records stated.
Morgan was sentenced in July 2017 to more than 35 years in a Florida prison after being convicted of three counts of attempted sexual battery, three counts of performing lewd acts with a victim under 12 years old and more than 100 counts of producing child pornography, Lake County, Fla. court records stated.