Santa Maria man pleads guilty to 6 felony counts in child sex abuse case

Dave Minsky, Santa Maria Times, Calif.
·2 min read

May 10—A Santa Maria man has pleaded guilty to six felony counts after he was arrested in 2019 on charges related to sexual abuse of an underage girl for more than four years.

George Irwin Hirzel, 49, appeared before Superior Court Judge James Voysey on April 29 and pleaded guilty to three counts of molestation of a child 14 or 15 years old; two counts of sexual intercourse with a child 16 or 17 years old; and one count of continuous sexual molestation of a child with a violent strike offense, according to Deputy District Attorney Scott Donahue.

Hirzel now is facing 12 years in state prison. He will be formally sentenced on June 7 at Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria. Additionally, he will be required to register as a sex offender.

Hirzel originally pleaded not guilty on May 10, 2019, to 74 felony charges, including 24 counts of lewd acts with a child between the ages of 14 and 15; 13 counts of sexual intercourse with a minor by someone older than 21; 18 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor; and 17 counts of oral copulation of a person under 18; one count of possession of child pornography; and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child. The charges were upheld on Dec. 3, 2019.

The six charges reflect the full time span of the sexual exploitation perpetrated on the victim, according to Donahue, and the remaining counts 68 will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Hirzel was arrested at the Santa Maria Police headquarters, located at 1111 W. Betteravia Road, shortly after 1 a.m. on March 28, 2019, logs show.

A criminal complaint filed April 30, 2019, by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office claims Hirzel continuously abused an unidentified girl from October 2014 until March 2019, while she was between the ages of 14 and 17.

Paul Greco, Hirzel's attorney, declined to comment.

Recommended Stories

  • Parents of son sentenced to life in prison for killing an Italian police officer speak out

    Ethan and Leah Elder, the parents of Finnegan Elder, describe their son’s mental state as ‘perilous’

  • Woman allegedly banned from amusement park over length of her shorts: 'You should be ashamed'

    A woman is claiming that a police officer at Six Flags confronted her over the length of her shorts.

  • Teen charged with murder after death of 13-year-old Florida girl

    Florida police say they arrested a 14-year-old boy as a suspect in the death of Tristyn Bailey, a 13-year-old student and cheerleader.

  • Baby abandoned in park leaves hospital with foster carers after parents not found

    It is thought the baby may have been just hours old when he was found.

  • Charges dropped for Black govt employee forcibly removed from car by police

    Criminal charges have been dropped against a Black government employee who was dragged out of her car during a traffic stop in March. It’s now been determined that a Virginia State Police trooper had no legal merit to detain Juanisha C. Brooks. Virginia State Police Trooper Robert G. Hindenlang pulled Brooks over on March 6 on her drive home on the Capital beltway shortly after 2 a.m., The Washington Post reported.

  • Man Accused of Assaulting Sushi Restaurant Owner After Trying to Skip $70 Bill in Virginia

    Police in Arlington, Virginia are looking for a man who allegedly assaulted an Asian American restaurant owner and used racial slurs against her and her son on May 4. What happened: Henry Kim and his mother, who own Bonsai Grill in Crystal City, said the attack occurred when they followed the man after he left their restaurant without paying for roughly $70 worth of sushi rolls. Kim and his mother followed the man but he continued walking and claimed to be on an emergency phone call.

  • Joy-Anna Duggar Breaks Her Silence on Brother Josh Duggar's Child Porn Charges

    Joy-Anna Duggar, along with her husband Austin Forsyth, said they are "heartbroken" over the allegations against former 19 Kids and Counting star Josh Duggar.

  • Inmate Brutally Punches Asian American Custody Assistant, Could Face Hate Crime Charges

    An inmate in Los Angeles could face assault and hate crime charges after attacking an Asian American custody assistant last week. The incident, which was caught on a security camera, occurred at the Inmate Reception Center (IRC) on May 5 at around 10:45 a.m. What happened: Investigators say detainee Arnulfo Meza, 29, attacked the female employee, 54, because she is Asian, KABC reported.

  • Woman killed, man injured after confronting couple stealing TV, Washington cops say

    A couple was arrested for the Yakima shooting after stealing the TV from a party.

  • Florida school principal will not be charged for paddling student: state attorney

    Melissa Carter had a request from the six-year-old student’s mother to spank her misbehaving daughter. The principal of a Florida elementary school will not face criminal charges after paddling a six-year-old girl in her care. According to the state’s attorney, Melissa Carter had the permission of the child’s mother to discipline her child.

  • Six Arrested For Burglary Attempt at Vietnamese Buddhist Temple in Arkansas

    A home in northwest Arkansas, which also serves as a Vietnamese Buddhist temple, was broken into by a group of burglars. Suspects arrested: Five women and a man were arrested after forcibly entering the Chùa Đức Viên Temple in the 10000 block of Lakeside Drive in Rogers on April 20, KATV reported. Four of the female suspects visiting the temple asked for prayers in an attempt to distract the victim on April 18 but were unsuccessful.

  • Man kills 6, then self, at Colorado birthday party shooting

    A gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado, slaying six adults before killing himself Sunday, police said. The shooting happened just after midnight in a mobile home park on the east side of Colorado Springs, police said. Officers arrived at a trailer to find six dead adults and a man with serious injuries who died later at a hospital, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

  • Innocent men imprisoned for the murder of corrupt KCK cop Roger Golubski’s nephew

    Every case the ex-cop touched during his decades at the KCKPD is suspect now, or should be, though no one inside the department seems to see that.

  • Video Shows Tiger Roaming Free in Houston Neighborhood, Tense Confrontation Almost Ends in Gunfire

    Local Houston police are searching for a man who they believe was illegally keeping the tiger as a pet, and who fled the scene when they arrived.

  • Micronesians feel hatred in Hawaii, decry police shooting

    Comments on social media about a 16-year-old boy shot and killed by Honolulu police have been so hateful that a Catholic priest, who hails from the same small Pacific island as the teen’s family, hesitates to repeat them. “It is really bad and I don’t want to say it as a priest,” said the Rev. Romple Emwalu, parochial vicar at a parish outside Honolulu who was born in Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia. Sykap’s family is from Chuuk, but he was born in Guam, a U.S. territory, said his mother, Yovita Sykap.

  • Video shows violent attempt to steal moped in Bronx

    New York City police released surveillance video of two men who violently tried to steal a moped in the Bronx.

  • Vietnam police arrest U.S. deportee on suspicion of murdering girlfriend

    A Vietnamese man deported from the United States under a push by the Trump administration to expel immigrants convicted of crimes in the United States has been arrested on suspicion of murder in Vietnam. Bui Thanh Hung, a Vietnamese-American who was deported from the United States in December 2017, was arrested by police after attacking his girlfriend with a knife in the southern province of Tien Giang, state media reported on May 7. Hung, an Amerasian born in 1973 to a Vietnamese mother and an American soldier who died during the Vietnam War, was convicted of domestic violence in the United States in 2010, he told Reuters in a 2018 interview.

  • Melinda Gates met with divorce lawyers in 2019 amid concern over Bill's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

    Melinda Gates first contacted divorce lawyers two years ago, after the scope of her husband Bill’s relationship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was made public, it has been claimed. Mr Gates met with the disgraced financier on multiple occasions, even posing for a photo at the New York townhouse where Epstein was accused of abusing young girls, and once stayed there “late into the night,” according to the New York Times. While the 65-year-old has not been accused of any wrongdoing, his dealings with Epstein were a “source of concern” for his wife, 56, a former employee of the Gates Foundation told the Wall Street Journal. In 2013, she even warned Mr Gates about his association with the convicted sex offender, according to the Daily Beast, but the pair are understood to have maintained contact for at least another year. Last week, Mr and Mrs Gates announced their separation after 27 years, with court documents outlining that the marriage was “irretrievably broken.”

  • Searches continue for Midlands teens who have been missing for a week, cops say

    If you have seen either teen, please call 803-436-2000, or 888-CRIME-SC.

  • 'Ogre of the Ardennes' serial killer dies in French prison hospital

    Michel Fourniret, one of France's most notorious serial killers, has died in a hospital jail, the public prosecutor said on Monday. Fourniret, dubbed the "Ogre of the Ardennes" by French media, was convicted in 2008 of raping or attempting to rape seven women and girls aged between 12 and 22 and then killing them. Fourniret, who was 79 and had been in jail for nearly two decades, had been in hospital since Saturday and had been placed in a coma due to heart and respiratory problems.