Child Molester Draws an 8-Year Term in Prison : Courts: Thomas Michael Cimino, who tried to lure girls with lost-cat story, gets maximum sentence requested by parents of three victims.

SANTA ANA â€”  A molester who enticed girls by telling them his cat was lost was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison.

Thomas Michael Cimino, 31, of San Juan Capistrano was convicted in May of molesting an 8-year-old girl and trying to lure a dozen others into sexual encounters by asking for help in finding his cat.

Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Richard M. Aronson imposed the maximum term after the parents of three victims rose in sadness and anger to seek a stern punishment. The father of a 7-year-old girl who eluded Cimino said the cat ruse preyed on the girls’ innocence.

“There’s not a little girl in the world who can resist that,� the father said.

The mother of the girl who was molested said her daughter wanted the judge to “make Mr. Cimino stay in jail until he died or until she did.�

Cimino’s lawyer said his client, who previously maintained his innocence, was now admitting his guilt. Attorney Danny Davis sought a shorter six-year sentence, arguing the maximum term might harm any chance for needed psychological counseling and rehabilitation.

“If we write him off for eight years . . . then we cut with time any hope� that Cimino can be helped, Davis said. “Whatever wrong was done, we haven’t made a beast yet, until you put a man in a cage.�

Cimino, who was self-employed installing pay telephones, did not speak during the hourlong court hearing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Claudia Silbar said the odds of successfully treating a child molester are slim. Cimino was placed on probation in 1990 after pleading no contest to lewd conduct involving children in Manhattan Beach. Additional charges involving girls were dropped in Los Angeles County recently so the victims, who testified in the Orange County trial, could avoid taking the witness stand again, Silbar said.

Cimino terrorized a Dana Point neighborhood for more than four months last year. Prosecutors said he approached young girls and lured them into secluded spots, such as a riverbed and the basement of a house, by asking them to help find his cat. He was convicted of molestation, indecent exposure and 10 counts of child annoyance. In the molestation case, Cimino grabbed the girl’s hand and forced her to touch his penis.

That girl’s mother struggled to compose herself before addressing the court.

“Because of this man, my family has been devastated,� she said. “He needs to be taken off the street.�

Despite his lawyer’s admission Friday, Cimino strenuously denied the charges in a recent Probation Department report prepared for the sentencing. He said the children who identified him in court were “programmed and coerced.� He denied being a pedophile.

Silbar maintained Cimino was in “denial� of his problem. “As long as he continues to deny that he is a child predator . . . rehabilitation is worthless,� she said.

The prosecutor said Cimino’s appearance--boyish and neatly trimmed--made it easier for him to commit crimes.

“He doesn’t look eerie, stinky, dirty. He looks normal,� Silbar said.

Aronson denied Cimino’s bid for a shorter sentence, saying the victims were especially vulnerable and the crimes required planning. “The evidence was overwhelming the defendant committed these crimes,� Aronson said.

Davis, who was hired since the trial ended, said he would appeal the conviction on grounds that some evidence should not have been admitted in court.