Man, 66, Gets 8-Year Sentence for Molesting Boy, 11

A 66-year-old man was given the maximum eight-year sentence Tuesday for molesting an 11-year-old Orange County boy he took on a trip to Magic Mountain.

Charles Early Rogers of North Hollywood pleaded no contest in July to the charge of committing a lewd act on a child under 14, waiving his right to a preliminary hearing. He could have been sentenced to as little as three years.

However, at his sentencing in Van Nuys Superior Court, Judge Alan B. Haber said he felt compelled to issue the maximum sentence in spite of Rogers’ early admission of guilt and his expressions of remorse.

A probation report said Rogers had a history of sexual crimes against young boys beginning in 1947. The report said Rogers was arrested five times through 1949 and served about four years in state prison after being convicted of child molestation charges.

Although Rogers’ only other arrest since then was in 1970, for lewd conduct in public, probation officer Tom Le Valley said Rogers admitted to “victimizing” at least 50 children.

Rogers was arrested early this year when an Orange County boy, after seeing a TV show on child molestation, reported to his mother that Rogers had done the things described in the program.