Serial Rapist Sentenced to 19 Years in Prison
Jerry Bonhomme, 33, will go to state prison for 19 years for raping two women, Judge Frank Ochoa ordered last week. Bonhomme, convicted of the crimes in July, appeared in custody in court and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and pay costs associated with the women’s therapy.
Ochoa, presiding over one of his final cases before he retires, didn’t mince words when addressing Bonhomme. “In my 32 years on the bench, I have never seen a more sophisticated manipulation of a position of trust and friendship to avail persons into victimization,” he said. “I cannot give you enough time for what you did to these [victims].”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Paula Waldman, who handled the case, had similar remarks regarding Bonhomme. “Jerry Bonhomme is a sexual predator,” she said. “With this sentence, a serial rapist is out of the public and away from women for the maximum allowable time under the law. We could not have accomplished this just result without the bravery of the victims who came forward and testified.”
Bonhomme, who was sentenced on the charges of raping an intoxicated victim, raping an asleep victim, and recently using cocaine, was arrested in July 2012. In February 2012, according to the Santa Barbara Police Department, a 24-year-old woman met Bonhomme at EOS Lounge, and he took her back to his house while she was heavily intoxicated; she fell asleep on his bed and awoke to him sexually assaulting her.
That woman’s reporting lead a second woman, raped in December 2011, to report the crime against her. In that incident, the 32-year-old woman — who shared mutual friends with Bonhomme — and her boyfriend accepted a ride home from Bonhomme after partying downtown. She woke up on Bonhomme’s bed while he was having sex with her.
