Newport man convicted on molestation counts

Deepa Bharath

SANTA ANA -- A 54-year-old Balboa Island man was led away in handcuffs

Thursday after a jury found him guilty of touching three young girls

inappropriately and possessing a large volume of child pornography.

The 12-member jury, comprising eight women and four men, deliberated

for about 13 hours over three days before reaching the verdict, which

prosecutors said could result in a life sentence for Thomas Michael

Murphy.

Murphy was found guilty of four felony counts of lewd conduct with a

child younger than 14 and one misdemeanor count of possessing child

pornography. Each of the felony counts includes an enhancement that

states he committed the acts with the intent to “arouse, appeal to or

gratify” his sexual desires.

The jury deadlocked on four other counts of lewd conduct. The foreman,

however, informed Judge Frank Fasel that on the counts they deadlocked

on, the majority was leaning toward a guilty verdict.

Police arrested the former self-employed scuba instructor on May 3,

2000, at his Ruby Avenue home after they searched the house and found

several thousand photos and hundreds of movies in his computer that

showed children in various sexual scenarios.

Officials said Murphy started befriending his victims -- two

9-year-olds and one 11-year-old -- in December 1999, inviting them for

ice cream and other outings. They said he touched them inappropriately

and showed them the pornographic images.

Murphy had been out on bail since his arrest and continued to live in

Newport Beach, although he moved away from his Ruby Avenue home.

The prosecution is pleased with the verdict, said Deputy Dist. Atty.

Ed Flores, substituting for Jana Hoffmann, who prosecuted the case and

was sick with the flu Thursday.

“We believe he was guilty as charged,” he said.

Based on the enhancements, Murphy is eligible to get life in prison,

Flores said.

“But that depends on the judge,” he said.

The defense will file a motion to declare a mistrial on all five

counts, said Murphy’s attorney, Fay Arfa.

“We’re extremely disappointed,” said Arfa, who held a seemingly

emotionless Murphy’s arm as the clerk read out the verdicts.

“The nature of the touching did not amount to child molestation,” she

said. “It was either accidental or incidental. Sometimes touching is just

touching, and that’s what we thought it was.”

Arfa said the pornographic material that was seized from Murphy’s home

proved “very damaging” to his case.

“That must have been treated separate from this case,” she said.

Newport Beach police have not seen a case of such magnitude in the

last several years, said Det. John Hougan, lead investigator on the case.

“We got probably 9,000 to 10,000 pictures and about 200 movies from

his computer,” he said. “I think that really did it for the jury, . . .

showed them what he likes.”

Jurors said it pained them to even have to look at the pornographic

images of little children.

“That was the hardest thing to do for us,” said the foreman, who did

not wish to reveal his name. “It was hard to see children being

victimized that way.”

Ruby Avenue resident Donna Albertsen said she and her neighbors

believe Murphy received “the right judgment.”

“We have a lot of young people in our neighborhood,” she said. “It

caused a lot of concern here.”

Murphy is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 11.

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .