Child Molester Sentenced To One Year in Jail; Attempted Murder Charges Dropped in Ice Pick Stabbing

People v. Jeffrey Arnold Gracia 

Jeffrey Gracia, who was and attempted sodomy in a San Mateo Superior Court on Feb. 3 was sentenced to one year in prison and probation on Monday. 

Prosecutors said that Jeffrey Gracia, 49, operated a video business out of his Pacifica home in the 1990s and 2000s while he befriended numerous young teenage boys from the neighborhood. He took the boys on trips to places like Clear Lake, Tahoe, and overseas to Burma.

Two brothers whom he had befriended, later told police that Gracia engaged in oral copulation, mutual masturbation with them and anal sex with the older brother, said Stephen Wagstaffe, San Mateo District Attorney. A subsequent police investigation turned up many images of child pornography depicting young boys in Gracia's residence as well hundreds of photos of the defendant posing with the young boys in Burma. 

The jury on the case dismissed the charge that Gracia committed sodomy on the older brother after threatening him.

Gracia stood to serve up to seven years and four months in prison when he was sentenced on March 21 but received a much more lenient sentence from Judge Craig Parsons, who presided over the case.

"[Judge Parsons] made a lengthy record about how difficult it was to decide what sentence was appropriate in this case," said Wagstaffe. "Judge Parsons stated several times that he found the victim credible and the defense witnesses to be biased in varying degrees but he gave significant weight to the facts that the defendant had served in the Armed Forces, had been a volunteer firefighter and had not committed any new offenses since these crimes in 2001."

Judge Parsons suspended 7 years, 8 months in state prison, which Gracia could have served, and placed the defendant on 5 years supervised probation on the condition that he serve one year in county jail minus time served, ordered a search and seizure of his home, counseling, $1,907 restitution to the victims, no use of internet to view minors, a $220 restitution fine by Gracia and that he register as a sex offender for life. 

Gracia, who had been out of jail on $750,000 bail, was immediately taken into custody. 

People v. Arthur John Armstrong

Pacifica resident Arthur John Armstrong, 37, is being held to answer to a felony assault charge after three witnesses of a skirmish on Sharp Park Beach on Nov. 15  testified against him on Monday.

His defense attorney offered no evidence to the court but the court found facts presented by the prosecution insufficient to follow through with an attempted murder charge. 

Armstrong was drinking at the beach near the  with his girlfriend on Nov. 15 when he spied his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, the alleged stabbing victim, nearby, said San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

After an exchange of "hard stares and insults," Armstrong allegedly  threw a lit firecracker at the victim. The firecracker went off but did not harm the victim, who then stood up and asked Armstrong what he was doing.

Armstrong charged the victim with his fists swinging, said Wagstaffe. At the same time, Armstrong's current girlfriend charged his ex-girlfriend, who was trying to call police on her cell phone. Both Armstrong and his girlfriend then fled the scene.

When the police and paramedics arrived just before 10pm, the victim was conscious and gave a short statement to an officer before passing out.

It was then that paramedics discovered that the victim had been stabbed through his left ear canal, through his skull and into his brain.

He was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital and placed into a drug-induced coma. His brain was swelling but he was not expected to die.

While examining the scene, police found the stabbing instrument in some bushes: "It was an ice pick-shank," said Wagstaffe.

Later, when the police found Armstrong, he claimed he did not stab the victim.

Armstrong has a long criminal record in San Mateo County that includes grand theft and commercial burglary convictions, among others. 

The case will continue on April 5 with a Superior Court arraignment.