OC 'manny' found guilty of molesting 16 boys, showing another porn

LOS ANGELES - A 34-year-old child care service provider was found guilty Tuesday of molesting 16 boys, ages 2 to 14, and showing another victim child pornography.

Matthew Antonio Zakrzewski was convicted by the Orange County Superior Court jury of 34 felony sex charges related to 17 victims in crimes that prosecutors said took place from 2014 through 2019.

He faces a maximum of 690 years to life in prison when he's sentenced Nov. 17.

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"The entire book is in defendant's hard drive," Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver said during her closing argument of the trial Monday, referencing a pedophilia book on Zakrzewski's computer. "In it there's a chapter titled Hunting Season. ... When the defendant reached out to (one of his victims) saying `Let me be his occasional babysitter,' he was hunting (the boy). He was hunting every family in this case. ... He wasn't just reading the book, he could have written the book."

Oliver argued that Zakrzewski videotaped much of the evidence against him.

In one of the videos a victim was seen lying on him nude as Zakrzewski "caressed" him to "normalize" the molestation, Oliver argued.

Zakrzewski is seen in another video touching himself with a boy in his lap, the prosecutor argued. When he finished, the defendant allegedly said, "Thank you," Oliver said, adding, "There are no words."

With one of the boys he played a game the defendant called "rocket ship" with the victim on his lap and declared, "It feels like we're having sex," Oliver argued.

Oliver added that the parents didn't know each other, and neither did the children. Oliver called Zakrzewski a "mastermind… grooming the parents to believe he was the perfect fit to protect each of the children."

Zakrzewski touted his work with children with behavioral disabilities and advertised that he had years of experience, was CPR trained and had background checks, Oliver said.

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Jennifer Ryan of the Orange County Public Defender's Office argued that while her client is charged with showing pornography to some of the victims, photos depicting nudity and sex acts are not necessarily "harmful" matter as charged.

"Each charge has separate laws, separate guides," she cautioned jurors.

She rebutted one charge of her client directing a dog to lick the private parts of one of the victims, saying there was no evidence of Zakrzewski directing the canine to perform that act.

"Cameras are running all the time," she said. "But they want you to believe something that was not depicted happened ... That is not in evidence."

Ryan also argued that some of the evidence in the trial showed "two kids running around" in their underwear.

"That's not harmful material," she argued. "Sometimes kids run around without their clothes ... There's nothing wrong with a little boy running around in shorts ... That's not against the law."

Ryan also argued that one of the videos "simulated" an oral sex act.

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"Simulating," Oliver responded. "That's absolutely outrageous and an insult to your intelligence. It was on video."

The mother of the child also testified about what her son told her about the incident, Oliver added.

"Any contact, however slight, is sufficient" for a conviction, Oliver argued.

As for the videos in the case, Oliver said there was such a staggering volume of them investigators never event went through all of them.

"There was no suggestion — by me or anyone else — that cameras were running all the time," Oliver said. "Do not let defendant's arguments fool you ... He deserves nothing short of 34 verdicts of guilt."

City News Service contributed to this report.