Babysitter let boyfriend molest kids as young as 3 in her care, CA officials say
A babysitter is accused of letting her boyfriend molest at least four children under her care, California prosecutors say.
Brittney Lyon, 31, of San Marcos, received a 100 years-to-life prison sentence in connection with the sexual abuse of at least four girls: two 7-years-olds and two 3-years-olds, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said in an Aug. 14 news release.
Both she and her boyfriend, Samuel Cabrera, are accused of participating in the alleged sexual abuse of the children, two of whom had autism and one who was nonverbal, prosecutors said.
Sloan Ostbye, Lyon’s attorney, told McClatchy News in an Aug. 15 phone interview that while Lyon’s settlement is “a good plea bargain, no one’s happy with it.”
“I think for her to be able to finish this case and move on, I think that’s good closure for her,” Ostbye said. “I think for the victims and the families, there’s never going to be closure.”
Attorney information for Cabrera was not immediately available.
“Today’s just sentence ends a despicable chapter that has destroyed innocence and devastated families in San Diego County,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said in the release. “This defendant was ruthless in posing as a trustworthy babysitter and recruiting autistic children, only to commit the most atrocious acts upon them.”
The alleged abuse surfaced in 2016 when one of the 7-year-old girls told her mother “she no longer wanted to go anywhere with Lyon, a family friend who sometimes babysat her,” prosecutors said.
The girl told her mother she had been abused, ultimately leading police detectives to Cabrera, prosecutors said.
Police investigators “found a double-locked box in (Cabrera’s) car containing six computer hard drives with hundreds of videos depicting Lyon and Cabrera sexually abusing the children, and at times, drugging or assaulting them, using extreme cruelty and brutality,” according to prosecutors.
Additionally, prosecutors said investigators found videos Lyon had secretly shot of “women and girls in changing rooms at clothing stores, bathrooms and locker rooms at various North County businesses.”
As there were additional victims on the recordings who were not known, police looked to the public for additional information from anyone who may have hired Lyon, “who had advertised her services on a babysitting website,” prosecutors said.
The three other victims came forward to police, who prosecutors said met Lyon on the “website where she specifically touted her interest in working with special needs children.”
Prosecutors said messages between Lyon and Cabrera showed that the two frequently coordinated the children’s alleged abuse with Lyon bringing them to Cabrera’s home or her giving him access to their own homes or her home.
“(Lyon) also sexually assaulted the children with Cabrera and alone,” prosecutors said, adding that she “would obtain drugs and other items used to abuse the children. “
Lyon’s sentence comes after she pleaded guilty in May to multiple charges, including “two felony counts of lewd act upon a child and two counts of forcible lewd act upon a child,” prosecutors said.
“She also admitted the allegations of kidnapping, residential burglary and to sexually assaulting multiple victims,” prosecutors said.
Ostbye said after Lyon’s arrest, “the district attorney’s position was that she had to plead to life without the possibility of parole,” and her co-defendant ended up going to trial.
Cabrera was convicted in 2019 and two years later received eight life terms in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.
“When I got on the case two years ago, we did a lot of work on it, investigation, reviewing materials,” Ostbye said. “After some time, we were able to get a settlement that didn’t include life without parole and that’s why (Lyon) pled.”
Under current state law, Lyon could petition for elder parole at age 50, prosecutors said, adding that if granted Lyon would have served 28 years of her sentence.
Ostbye noted that even if someone is eligible for parole it does not mean they will be released.
“So it’s not that she’s going to be released; it’s that she will have an opportunity to be heard,” Ostbye said.
San Marcos is about a 35-mile drive north from San Diego.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Babysitter let boyfriend molest kids as young as 3 in her care, CA officials say."
