Judge Sentences Leombruno To 15 Years - Triple The Time Prosecutors Sought
A Kootenai County judge sentenced a registered sex offender who posed as a psychiatrist to 15 years in prison Tuesday - triple the punishment sought by prosecutors.
The sentence followed testimony by two parents that their teenage son remains emotionally tormented a year after being molested by Larry Leombruno.
“He has nightmares, and he is scared to death of Mr. Leombruno,” said the mother of the boy, now 18.
She urged Judge James Judd to give Leombruno a stiffer sentence than prosecutors recommended - even though the case involving their son had been dismissed in a plea agreement.
More than a decade ago, Leombruno spent a year in a California mental institution for sex offenders after being convicted of molesting a 17-year-old boy.
“I find, from your past, some striking similarities,” Judd said.
Last year, Leombruno, a hypnotherapist not licensed in psychiatry, was accused of molesting two teenage boys he had hired to do chores around his Harrison-area home.
Leombruno convinced one boy that a “body balance” massage would help the youngster stop using drugs.
Another helper said Leombruno promised to teach him foreign languages by putting special sunglasses on him. The glasses flashed colored lights inside so the boy couldn’t see out. Leombruno then put his hands down the boy’s pants, authorities said.
Charges in the sunglasses incident were dropped in exchange for Leombruno pleading guilty to lewd conduct in the other case.
Deputy Prosecutor Lansing Haynes recommended only three to five years in prison, saying he wanted to spare the victims the trauma of testifying.
But Defense Attorney James Siebe said the prosecutor violated the spirit of the plea agreement by allowing the parents to argue for a stiffer sentence. Since that case had been dismissed, the parents weren’t really victims and shouldn’t get to testify at a sentencing, he said.
Leombruno will be eligible for parole in about three years.
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