Babysitter sentenced for providing her boyfriend with kids with special needs to molest

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. (TCN) -- A 31-year-old babysitter will spend time behind bars for providing her boyfriend with multiple kids with special needs for him to molest.

The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office announced that Brittney Lyon was sentenced on Aug. 14 to 100 years to life after previously pleading guilty to two felony counts of lewd act upon a child and two counts of forcible lewd act upon a child. She also confessed to allegations of kidnapping, residential burglary, and sexually assaulting multiple victims. Due to current elder parole laws, Lyon will be able to petition the court for parole when she’s 50.

A jury convicted Lyon’s co-defendant, Samuel Cabrera, in 2019, and he was sentenced in 2021 to eight life terms without parole.

According to prosecutors, in 2016, a 7-year-old girl informed her mom that she didn’t want to go anywhere with Lyon, "a family friend who sometimes babysat her." The mother reportedly learned about the abuse, leading to Cabrera’s arrest.

Following a short chase, authorities located a double-locked box in Cabrera’s vehicle with multiple hard drives containing "hundreds of videos depicting Lyon and Cabrera sexually abusing the children." They were also reportedly seen "drugging or assaulting them" and "using extreme cruelty and brutality."

The district attorney’s office said that in addition to the videos of the young victims, Lyon had secretly recorded women and girls in changing rooms at clothing stores, as well as in bathrooms and locker rooms.

Investigators reportedly sought the public’s assistance in looking for unknown victims on the tapes and learned Lyon had advertised babysitting services online. Prosecutors said Lyon "specifically touted her interest in working with special needs children." Lyon reportedly procured at least four young girls for Cabrera. Two were 7 years old, and the others were 3. Authorities said two of the victims had autism and one was nonverbal.

According to the district attorney’s office, Lyon would bring the kids to Cabrera, and she sexually assaulted them with Cabrera and alone. Prosecutors said she would also get drugs and other items to abuse the victims.

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said, "After the horrific sexual crimes Brittney Lyon committed against children, District Attorney Summer Stephan did her job in securing a just sentence of 100 years to life. Now, it’s time for the state to do its job and honor that sentence for the sake of the victims. Shamefully, a loophole in California law could allow Lyon to walk free after serving less than a third of her sentence."

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