SEX OFFENDERS START YOUNG, POLICE FIND ONE MOLESTER IN FIVE IS CHILD.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - As younger and younger children commit sex crimes, Antelope Valley authorities are turning to a Chatsworth residential program to help the young offenders.

About five sex crimes every month in the Antelope Valley are committed by children 13 and younger who, because of their age, can't be charged with a crime. Most are now sent by court order to Rancho San Antonio, where they get counseling and other help.

``The numbers are fairly consistent,'' said sheriff's Detective Fred McNutt, a member of the Antelope Valley Family Crimes unit. ``It's becoming frighteningly common. We recently started using the Rancho San Antonio and hope it'll have some effect.''

Antelope Valley detectives say that about 20 percent of the 300 or so sex crimes a year involve offenders under age 14.

In Agua Dulce, investigators handled a case involving a 12-year-old boy who was removed from a group home after being accused of molesting three boys 9 to 11 years old.

The boy was transferred to Rancho San Antonio.

Until a few years ago, so few of the offenders were children that counseling programs in sex crimes involving children dealt almost exclusively with victims. Investigators blame the change on the increasing sexualization of society. Children see or hear about sexual activity on television and in song lyrics and rap.

Investigators say cases involving juvenile sex offenders generally come in spurts rather than a steady flow.

For example, local deputies investigated a case last year in which the 7-year-old son of a reputed prostitute apparently witnessed a sex act and repeated the act with a neighbor child. In turn, the neighbor child tried the same act with another youngster. By the time the investigators were called in, they were dealing with 14 separate cases involving children 7 to 14.

``Things like that are why it's so hard to give specific numbers,'' McNutt said. ``After that case, we didn't really have anything else involving young perpetrators for a couple of months.''

In cases where the offender is much older than the victim or uses force, the offender is usually removed from his or her home.

In those cases, detectives contact the county Department of Children and Family Services and put the matter in the hands of the district attorney's staff.

``We start by evaluating the home situation,'' McNutt said. ``We look at who the parents are and if they're being parents and if they're in the home as they should be.''

If the investigators find special circumstances in the child's home, such as lack of adult supervision or parental drug abuse, they petition a court to remove the child to Rancho San Antonio.