26-year-old Hannah Tubbs will serve two years in a juvenile facility after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. Tubbs, according to the prosecutor, identified as male before a November 2021 arrest for the 2014 crime.
The then 17-year-old Tubbs molested the girl eight years ago. Prosecutors said the assault occurred in a toilet at a Denny’s Diner. Tubbs grabbed the child by the throat, locked her in a cubicle, and put a hand down her pants.
The assault only stopped when another person came into the toilets.
Tubbs escaped before police arrived. However, following an arrest on suspicion of battery in 2019, police took a DNA sample and entered it into a database. It matched DNA left at the 2014 crime scene.
Two weeks after the assault, Tubbs turned 18.
Because of that, the local District Attorney declined to prosecute Hannah Tubbs as an adult. He had previously committed to ‘immediately stop prosecuting children as adults’. He cited studies showing brain development isn’t complete until a person is 25.
Prior convictions
Evidence presented at the trial indicated Tubbs has prior adult convictions for violence, drug possession and probation violations. The defendant also faced a previous charge of assaulting a different young girl but that case did not proceed.
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami disagreed with the decision to try Hannah Tubbs as a juvenile.
“Tubbs is 26 years old… she is not a kid.”
LA County juvenile facilities house male and female inmates. Because Tubbs began identifying as female following the arrest two months ago, the prisoner will be housed in the female section of the facility.
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