A Mendocino County jury returned a guilty verdict Friday against 49-year-old Henry Robert Frahm Rinne of Ukiah, finding him guilty of the continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, according to a press release from the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
The felony conviction stems from abuse that occurred between June 2016 and August 2018, when the victim was between eight and ten years old. The DA’s Office extended a “special thanks” to the now-17-year-old survivor “who remained steadfast in her pursuit of justice.”
The case was investigated by the Ukiah Police Department and the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations. Deputy District Attorney Jamie Pearl prosecuted the case, which lasted one week and was presided over by Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Victoria Shanahan.
Clinical Psychologist Mindy Mechanic testified as an expert witness during the trial, speaking on interpersonal trauma and counterintuitive victim behavior.
The DA’s Office also recognized a “good samaritan” witness from another county who observed and reported an act of abuse in 2018 and later testified at trial. “Without this witness, the abuse may have continued much longer,” the press release stated.
Rinne is scheduled to return to court on June 5 for a trial on aggravating factors. Following that hearing, the case will be referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation.
Thank God the witness from another county reported what they saw. How many other victims are out there? This should be a death penalty offense. Let’s pray they give him the maximum sentence possible.
These kind of people should be put to death!
These people were kids that were sexually abused 99 percent of the time. Don’t get it twisted I’m not defending him, but chances are his dad, brother uncle whatever did it to him.
You left out the local or family catholic priest.
Prison doesn’t reform these kinds of people. Life sentence at minimum!
Adult Probation Department? What does that mean? This monster should be going to prison. We don’t need him in society.
Common misperception. One of the probation department’s duties is the preparation of presentence reports in felony cases. If the aggravating circumstances are proven, he will receive a 16 year prison sentence with good time limited to 15%
Details are really thin here. What was the relationship? How did this guy have continuous access to this young girl? Maybe she needs to face charges
I mean her mother not the girl
He had been a custodian for the county from 2016-2019 until he was fired, somerhing he and the union unsuccessfully appealed