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Lompoc man of the year facing life in prison for child molestation

January 6, 2017
Anthony Michael Durham

Anthony Michael Durham

A longtime public servant and former Lompoc man of the year is facing life in prison after pleading guilty to 17 counts of child molestation charges. Anthony Michael Durham, 67, is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually abusing two children.

Durham is a former California Highway Patrol officer who retired from the agency in 2003. He received a $74,238 pension from CalPERS in 2015, according to Transparent California. Durham also did some work for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.

While in retirement, Durham worked as a Lompoc police volunteer. He also served on the Lompoc City Council in 2009 after being appointed to fill a vacancy.

The Lompoc Chamber of Commerce named Durham the Lompoc Valley Man of the Year in 2008. Durham was also reportedly nominated for the Valley of Flowers Peace Prize in 2012.

Lompoc police officers arrested Durham in Sept. 2016. On Thursday, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office announced Durham pleaded guilty to 14 counts of sexual contact with a child 10 years of age or younger, three counts of sexual content with a child 10 or younger and three counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14.

Durham is facing a sentence of 45 years to life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 23. Durham remains in Santa Barbara County Jail with his bail set at $1 million.

Another former man of the year on the Central Coast, Lenny Jones, was also recently convicted of child molestation charges. Jones, the former Arroyo Grande citizen of the year, was sentenced last year to nearly 15 years in prison.


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rest of life in prison – still not enough. Scumbag.


4

He and Man the Year Lenny can hold hands prison.


2

And our dear Kelly Gearhead from A town? Man of the year up there. Doing 14 long for stealing over $100 million from many folks around the county.


These issues bring to mind the twisted politics of the Chamber of Commerce; local, state and national entities. They are primarily concerned with making money off our resources. The state and especially the national CoC are particularly nasty, twisting their vast resources (made from the populace) into political and lobbying machines that work to protect and enhance the fortunes of the very wealthy- to our detriment.


You can see the sort of slime that the CoC is attracted to- pedophiles, crooks and political hacks that will stop at nothing to have their way. I know some members of the CoC, locally. Good folks, many of the members are good folks. But the goal and direction of the larger Chambers is chilling for average citizens.


Just one source of info: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/2015/10/22/who-does-the-us-chamber-of-commerce-really-represent


2

I recognize that public pensions are a hot topic, but how is his CHP pension in any way relevant to his crimes or his potential sentence?


1

Good call, OldNed, interesting caveat that got thrown into the article!

The Pension that Mr Durham will no longer need, would be well used for restitution for the victims, cost for counseling and other cost’s of care:(

Pedophiles sure are good at hiding themselves in plain sight:(


4

I cut a beautiful and ripe avocado in half today. It was half rotten on the inside. I was bummed because I paid $1.50 for it, and outwardly it looked perfect. Kind of like this guy.


1

Wow Has the world gone mad? why on earth would a former policemen do this.. what the …


And Lenny Well he is just Sick.. no excuse for that low life… other then stupidity


1

Why on earth would ANYONE do this, policeman or not. Just read the new articles here and you will see that police officers are just as corrupt as the average citizen.


4

“The Lompoc Chamber of Commerce named Durham the Lompoc Valley Man of the Year.” Anybody notice a pattern here? Nobody should trust anything any of our local Chambers of Commerce do or say. Man of the year indeed.


2