Sun Valley Usher Gets 30 Years for Sex Crimes

A man who was an usher at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses in Sun Valley was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in state prison for sexually abusing three boys he met there.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Leslie Dunn also ordered Marcelo Lozano, 34, of Sun Valley, to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Lozano pleaded no contest Sept. 12 to two counts of continuous sexual abuse and one count of oral copulation of a person under 14.

Lozano met the boys -- who were 8 to 11 at the time -- through the Jehovahs Witnesses Sun Valley Spanish congregation, where he was an usher, according to Deputy District Attorney Rena Durrant.

He was arrested July 29 and has remained jailed since then.

The crimes happened between Jan. 1, 2006, and June 30 of this year, the prosecutor said. Some of the crimes occurred at Lozano's home in North Hollywood, where he lived at the time, along with other locations, according to Durrant.

None of the crimes occurred at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses, the prosecutor said.

--City News Service