EDITORIAL

The sentencing of James Lee Crummel last week to 60 years to life

in prison for molesting a Costa Mesa teenager brings to a close one of

Newport Beach’s more terrifying stories.

The details of the crimes committed by Crummel and psychiatrist Burnell

Gordon Forgey don’t need to be repeated. They are horrific and have been

printed enough.

What is even more disturbing is Crummel’s criminal history, which dates

back to the early 1960s when he was in the military. Over a 35-year

period, he was convicted several times for committing sexual crimes and

was alleged to have committed a 1967 murder and several other

molestations.

That history might have continued had a group of neighbors not

protested Crummel living in Forgey’s Newport Crest condominium.

They learned of Crummel’s presence through California’s Megan’s Law,

which requires police to notify neighbors when a sex offender moves into

an area. Crummel was Newport Beach’s first resident subject to the law.

The law is controversial because it does not allow convicted sex

offenders to leave their crimes behind once punishment has been served.

But in this case, the law worked. The protests brought attention on

Forgey and Crummel and clearly provided the impetus for police to

investigate the two.

Had the police not, who knows what else might have happened.

With Crummel’s sentencing, Newport Beach residents can now begin

putting this story behind them.

Costa Mesa residents, however, still have to deal with the unsolved

murder of 13-year-old Jamey Trotter, who disappeared off Harbor Boulevard

in 1979.

Crummel says he found Trotter’s body in 1990 while hiking in Riverside

County. He is now the main suspect in the murder and could face the death

penalty if convicted.

Authorities plan to make a decision about that trial within the next

few months. Let’s hope that, one way or another, Costa Mesa, and

Trotter’s family, also will soon get an ending to their tragic story.