San Francisco man, 60, pleads to child sex charges, gets 20 years

A 60-year-old San Francisco man accused in 2019 of kid intercourse abuse and possessing youngster pornography has pleaded no contest to a number of costs and can obtain 20 years in state jail when sentenced in June, The Reporter has discovered.

Alexander Vitaly Bantov, a Ukrainian nationwide, was scheduled to face a jury trial Thursday however appeared in Division 9 on Wednesday, when he withdrew his earlier not-guilty plea, waived his rights, and agreed to a plea take care of the Solano County District Legal professional’s Workplace.

Superior Courtroom Decide Carlos R. Gutierrez accepted Bantov’s no-contest plea to 2 counts of a lewd act upon a toddler and one rely of steady sexual abuse of a kid and instantly discovered him responsible of the costs, all felonies, court docket data present.

By getting into the no-contest plea, Bantov didn’t admit guilt however primarily acknowledged he would provide no protection to the costs.

As a part of the plea settlement between Deputy District Legal professional Shelly Moore and Bantov’s lawyer, Patrick Clancy, the choose dismissed eight different costs: two counts of intercourse acts with a toddler 10 years outdated or youthful; 5 counts of a lewd act upon a toddler; and one rely of possession or management of kid pornography.

By getting into his plea, Bantov, who turns 61 on Could 1, averted the potential of being discovered responsible at trial and the potential of spending the remainder of his life in jail.

Gutierrez referred the matter to the Solano County Probation Division, which can draft a pre-sentencing report.

Bantov, who stays with out bail within the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield, can be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. June 20 within the Justice Middle in Fairfield.

His sentencing will shut out a case that started effectively greater than two years in the past.

After Bantov was held to reply and waived his proper to a preliminary listening to in December 2019, Gutierrez dominated there was sufficient proof to schedule pretrial proceedings towards the everlasting U.S. resident who previously lived in Canada.

Throughout a continuing in 2019, Moore challenged Bantov’s declare he couldn’t afford a personal lawyer as a result of, she mentioned, he owned a house in San Francisco probably price greater than $1 million.

Throughout that very same earlier continuing, Bantov’s lawyer on the time, John D. Forsyth of San Francisco, argued for launch of his shopper from jail, with bail, citing his shopper’s hypertension; lack of a previous legal file; possession of the San Francisco dwelling; and his accountability for the caring of his aged father in San Francisco.

Moreover, Forsyth mentioned Bantov has had no extra contact with the victims since his mid-September 2019 arrest in San Francisco by Vallejo cops and possessed a “inexperienced card,” a allow permitting a international nationwide to dwell and work completely in the USA.

At a 2019 jail arraignment, Moore instructed Commissioner Bryan J. Kim that police investigators discovered a San Francisco neighbor of Bantov’s mentioned the defendant had been attempting to “promote his dwelling for money” and, subsequently, could also be a flight danger.

Kim denied Forsyth’s request for bail.

The mid-September arrest was not the primary time Bantov was positioned into custody within the case.

Courtroom data point out he was first arrested on Aug. 31 after Vallejo police acquired a report at about 12:09 p.m. of a person fondling a minor contained in the IHOP restaurant, at 114 Plaza Drive, in Vallejo.

Officers arrested Bantov, who, on the time, was within the firm of two minors he was taking care of. One of many minors was the identical one which Bantov was seen allegedly fondling.

A further patron of the restaurant additionally reported seeing Bantov inappropriately touching the minor, police mentioned.

He was arrested and booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts with a toddler below 14. Nonetheless, he apparently was launched.

However on Sept. 12, Vallejo detectives have been in a position to efficiently obtain and evaluate the contents of Bantov’s cellular phone, in accordance with a report by the Vallejo Occasions-Herald, a sister newspaper of The Reporter.

Investigators discovered a number of photographs of kid pornography. One among these images depicted Bantov concerned in a lascivious act with one of many minors he was with on the IHOP, police mentioned.

He was re-arrested the identical day at his San Francisco dwelling on suspicion of kid molestation and possession of kid pornography.

Detectives searched a number of digital units seized from Bantov’s residence. Extra photographs of kid pornography have been discovered on these units, the Vallejo investigators mentioned.