March 9, 2022
A 74-year-old man Bolinas man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for possessing child sex images.
John Baptist Delorimier Jr. was also ordered to pay restitution of $20,000 to be shared among six victims whom authorities identified in the illicit materials.
Delorimier could have faced up to 20 years in the federal case, but the prosecution sought an 87-month sentence in part because Delorimier accepted responsibility early in the investigation.
U.S. District Judge James Donato followed the prosecution’s recommendation at a sentencing hearing on Monday in San Francisco. The judge ordered Delorimier to surrender to federal authorities next week to begin his sentence.
“Mr. Delorimier is aware of the severe gravity and harmful nature of his conduct and provides no excuses for what he has done,” defense attorney Charles Dresow wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “After his arrest Mr. Delorimier engaged in both mandated and voluntary treatment for his conduct.”
Delorimier was initially arrested in January 2020 after an investigation by the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. It received information about suspicious online transmissions from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which runs a tip hotline.
Investigators traced the transmissions to a home in Bolinas and identified Delorimier as the suspect. The sheriff’s department said investigators do not suspect any children depicted in the images are Marin residents.
Based on the county investigation, federal authorities obtained a grand jury indictment in March 2020. According to a prosecution filing, the crime involved 300 to 599 images and included a victim under the age of 12.
Delorimier pleaded guilty in November 2020 to one count of possessing child pornography. He has been free on a $100,000 bond, using his home as collateral, pending the outcome of the case.
Delorimier, an artist and graphic designer, is a former assistant coach for the Tamalpais High School and Marin Catholic High School football programs, and was a volunteer coach for Southern Marin Youth Football.
Delorimier is also a former teacher at Mare Island Technology Academy, a high school in Vallejo, according to the Vallejo Times-Herald.
Authorities reported no prior criminal record for Delorimier since a 1989 misdemeanor conviction in Marin.
“I feel guilty and ashamed,” Delorimier wrote in a letter to the probation department before his sentencing. “I have completely reexamined my sense of morality.”
“I have been working hard to change my attitude towards sexuality,” he wrote, according to Dresow’s sentencing memorandum. “Therapy focusing on sexual compulsions has helped me. I acknowledge the harm my behavior has had on others. I realize that I am accountable for my behavior and am willing to accept responsibility for that behavior.”