Updated at 4:30 p.m July 7, 2015
A former emergency medical technician who had sex with a 15-year-old girl he met online was sentenced Tuesday to four years probation, given credit for 112 days in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender while on probation.
Zachary Stinchcomb, 24, pleaded guilty in April to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He was ordered to stay away from the victim.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Fox argued to Judge Polly Shamoon that Stinchcomb be required to register as a sex offender for life, noting that a second woman has come forward, alleging the defendant did similar things to her four years ago when she was a minor.
No charges have been filed in that case, Fox told reporters.
“The people’s position is that this is an individual who clearly has a preference toward young women, and that is his own sexual gratification, and has clearly done it on two prior occasions,” Fox said. “For that reason, we believe that it would be in the (public’s) best interest to have him register as a sex offender (for life).”
According to a search warrant, Stinchcomb pretended to be 17 years old when he met the girl on a website called meetme.com. The two exchanged text messages and eventually met in person and developed a sexual relationship, according to the document.
The warrant says the girl met a boy at her own high school and broke off the relationship with Stinchcomb, making him upset.
On Jan. 22, the victim asked Stinchcomb for a ride to school, but he drove her to another area, where he cut her panties from her body and forced her to have sexual intercourse, according to the warrant, which stated that the defendant was in his EMT uniform when the assault occurred.
A spokesman for Rural/Metro of San Diego, where Stinchcomb worked as an EMT, said the defendant was immediately suspended without pay once the company learned of his arrest.
— City News Service