Crescent City, Calif. (06/26/2017) — A jury found defendant Bryan Ranger, age 63, guilty of child molestation and rape perpetrated against five of his nine children. Prosecuted by CASE President, Peter Flores, Jr., Ranger was convicted of nine counts of forcible child molestation and one count of forcible rape of a child, after a two-week trial and three hours of deliberation.
Ranger, a former social worker, lived off the grid in Del Norte County and kept his family in isolation. Detective Ed Fleshman gave accounts of the interviews of the victims, including a 17-year-old victim accusing Ranger of sexual abuse towards her beginning at the age of four. Fleshman also recounted Ranger forcing two children under the age of 14 to commit sexual acts with each other.
Ranger had been previously represented by the Del Norte District Attorney when the DA was still a private attorney. Therefore, the Office of the Attorney General in San Francisco took control of the prosecution to avoid a conflict-of-interest. Sentencing takes place on October 18, 2017. Ranger is expected to serve between 25 and 240 years to life, based on the possibility of ten life sentences.