PINYON PINES - A Pinyon Pines man was sentenced today to 143 years to life in state prison for molesting an underage relative over the course of more than eight years.
An Indio jury deliberated two days last December before finding Stanford James Stelle III, 42, guilty of 13 felonies: six counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, one count of committing sex acts on a child under 10 years old and three counts each of oral copulation on a minor and lewd acts on a child under 14 years by using force.
Stelle, who was arrested in 2015, sexually assaulted the girl from 2003, when she was 5 years old, until 2012, when she was 13, according to prosecutors.
The victim, now in her early 20s, cried as she addressed the defendant during his sentencing hearing at the Larson Justice Center in I
