Abuser faces 29 years

An Orange County jury on Thursday gave a Costa Mesa man his fourth felony conviction for molesting young boys. This time, it was a young relative he had abused.

Dennis James Ward, 45, was convicted of nine felony counts of molesting a boy between 1990 and 1992, when the child was between 4 and 6 years old.

It was not the most recent molestation Ward had been guilty of.

Fourteen years ago, he was convicted of molesting two Huntington Beach children who had slept over at his house between 1992 and 1993. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison for those convictions. He was scheduled to be released in 2007 when the latest case, for molesting his relative in the early ’90s, was brought up after the victim stepped forward.

In 1988, Ward was released from prison after serving three years for molesting a boy in 1983. In that case, he repeatedly abused the boy when he would wander off in a park or go into a restroom to use the facilities. He was caught after another little boy saw him abusing the child in a public restroom.

While living with his mother in Costa Mesa, Ward would take his male relative out on trips to the amusement park and other places.

At least three times, Ward took the boy back to his home and orally copulated with him and masturbated.

The victim did not report the crimes until Ward was scheduled to be released two years ago.

Ward faces up to 29 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 2.

District Attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami said that once Ward is nearing release for this conviction, prosecutors will look to have him committed to a mental facility as a sexually violent predator.

Ward is not eligible for a life sentence under the three-strikes law because he had to be prosecuted under the laws that applied at the time of the crime, when the three-strikes law did not exist, prosecutors said.