Ex-church volunteer sentenced to 60 years to life for sexually abusing boys

A former Sunday school volunteer was
sentenced Friday to 60 years to life in prison for
sexually abusing young boys, including some he
met through churches in Newport Beach and
Costa Mesa.
Sending 51-year-old Christopher McKenzie to
prison presumably for the rest of his life
ensures he will not be able to hurt anyone else,
Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick
Donahue said after handing down his decision.
Jurors convicted McKenzie in July of 20 felonies
related to molesting five boys and trying to lure
a sixth into sexual situations. The charges
included lewd acts with a child under 14,
possession of child pornography and using a
minor for sex acts.
During the trial, prosecutors laid out a pattern
of McKenzie grooming victims by inviting them
to help on his rounds as a pool cleaner,
watching movies, buying them fast food and
taking them on camping trips.
Prosecutors said McKenzie met three of his
victims at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa,
where he volunteered from 2007 until he was
arrested in 2012. McKenzie met one of the
victims at Christ Church by the Sea in Newport
Beach, where he volunteered before Rock
Harbor, according to prosecutors.
According to prosecutors, McKenzie repeatedly
raped and molested one victim over the span of
eight years, starting in 1996, when the boy was
8 years old.
"Mr. McKenzie, through manipulation, gained
the trust and love of these young men,"
Donahue said.
After getting close to them, McKenzie often
would offer victims cash to pose for nude
photos, insisting he had an artist friend who
needed a new model for sculptures, according to
victims' testimony.
Prosecutors said McKenzie molested the boys
while he rubbed oil on their bodies for the
photo shoots or as they showered after helping
him work on pools.
The brother of one of the victims spoke in court
before the sentencing.
"I cannot put into words the feelings I felt when
my brother first told me what this monster did
to him," he said.
The Daily Pilot is not identifying the brother in
order to avoid identifying the victim as well.
Prison is not a severe enough punishment for
McKenzie, said the brother, who suggested
castration at the least.
"I hope Christopher McKenzie rots in hell," he
said.
However, an alleged victim who was unable to
testify at trial — leading prosecutors to drop
charges related to him — said he forgave
McKenzie.
The man was not in court Friday, but prosecutor
Heather Brown read a statement from him.
The abuse, the man wrote, drove him to drugs
and other self-destructive behavior, but he has
recovered.
"A door opened for me that has led me to
understand why this happened and how it was
not my fault," the man wrote. "This led me to
forgive the man that abused me, not for his own
benefit, but for mine."
McKenzie could have been sentenced to 135
years to life in prison if Donahue imposed the
maximum penalty.
Public defender Darren Thompson contended
that would be "disproportionately unfair"
compared with sentences for crimes like
murder.
He asked Donahue to impose a term that would
give McKenzie a legitimate opportunity to be
paroled.
But Brown argued that if McKenzie were ever
freed, he would immediately return to posing as
a devout man to snare unsuspecting victims.
"There's nothing but emotional wreckage lying
in the wake of Mr. McKenzie," she said.
Outside the courtroom after the hearing,
McKenzie's mother, Bonni Schumpert, called the
sentence "heartbreaking."
"He's my only son. He was the one to care for
me in my future," she said. "He's an honest,
decent, respectable man."