Plea Bargain Angers Mother Harrison Man’s Second Conviction For Molesting A Teenage Boy

Anne would like to see Lawrence Leombruno put behind bars for a very long time.

But she fears that a plea bargain Kootenai County prosecutors gave to the man who molested her son will ruin that chance.

“By allowing this we’re just washing our hands of it and saying ‘Go somewhere else and do it to someone else’s kid,”’ said Anne, whose last name is withheld to protect her son’s identity.

Leombruno, 46, of Harrison, will be sentenced for sexual battery Tuesday. It is the second time he’s been convicted of molesting a teenage boy.

Leombruno pleaded guilty after prosecutors agreed to drop a second sexual battery charge and reduce the other sexual battery charge to one with a maximum of 15 years in prison versus life in prison.

As part of the deal, the prosecutor also agreed to recommend that Leombruno receive three to five years in prison.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Lansing Haynes said he believes he did the right thing.

“I had to ask myself what I wanted out of this,” Haynes said. “I wanted a felony conviction, I wanted a significant amount of supervision when he is released and I wanted to recommend that he go to prison. I got all of those without putting (two) boys through a trial.”

Leombruno was charged last year after two 17-year-old boys reported that he told them he was a psychologist and then molested them during his “treatment.”

Leombruno, who claims to be a hypnotherapist, would put the boys in a trance with electronic sunglasses he called “brain wave synchronizers.”

Bright lights embedded in the glasses flashed in the boy’s eyes as Leombruno massaged inappropriate areas on their bodies, the boys reported. One boy said that he took off the glasses to find Leombruno performing oral sex on him.

Anne says her son, now 18, still has nightmares about the abuse. She said he was willing to testify at trial so Leombruno could receive a bigger conviction and tougher sentence.

She said she believes prosecutors didn’t want to go to trial because the other boy had moved out of state and it would cost the county money to fly him back for a trial.

But Haynes said he was concerned about putting the other teen through trial because of emotional and home life problems the youth has suffered.

Without that boy’s testimony, the prosecutor was concerned about how solid the case would be with only Anne’s son. The abuse against her son was not as easy to prove as was the abuse of the other boy, he said.

Making the deal ensured that Leombruno received a conviction.

Anne hopes to testify at Leombruno’s hearing on Tuesday. She plans to ask the judge to give Leombruno the maximum sentence.

“We’re talking about a person who molests young men - someone who did it in the past,” she said. “He won’t be cured. He’ll move to another state. He’ll start all over again.”

Leombruno previously was convicted of lewd conduct in California. Although he was sentenced to seven years in prison he served only a fraction of that time.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo