Simi man pleads guilty to molesting girls, soliciting someone to kill them

Megan Diskin
Ventura County Star

A Simi Valley man pleaded guilty Friday to molesting two girls in the early 2000s and soliciting a hit man to kill them once he was charged. 

David Beech, 61, pleaded guilty to counts of lewd acts upon a child and three counts of solicitation of murder during a hearing in Ventura County Superior Court. The two girls and a person who had supporting testimony are victims in the murder solicitation offenses, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Tom Steele. 

David Beech

Beech also admitted to special allegations concerning the victims, who were under 18 at the time of the crimes. They occurred between 2001 and 2005 when the girls were between 10 and 12, Steele said. The Simi Valley man also admitted to showing the girls sexually explicit content during the molestation incidents, Steele said. 

Beech's attorney, Senior Deputy Public Defender Michael Albers, could not be reached for comment. According to Steele, Beech's guilty pleas were part of an agreement with the expectation that Beech would be sentenced to 14 years in prison. 

He was facing four counts of lewd acts on a child, four counts of solicitation of murder, one count of possession of child pornography and several special allegations. If the case had gone to trial and Beech was convicted of all counts and the special allegations he would have been sentenced to life in prison. 

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How he was caught

A local task force was conducting a regular investigation into child pornography in 2013 when Beech popped up as a suspect. His IP address was connected to this activity, Steele said. 

Local authorities routinely work with the FBI to track people who are uploading or downloading child pornography on the internet, Steele said. 

Search warrants were subsequently served at Beech's home and on his computer where authorities found "troves and troves" of videos and photographs, Steele said. Some of the media looked like they were "originals," Steele said.

The children in the photographs were identified, tracked down by authorities and interviewed, Steele said. They both told detectives they were molested by Beech and were regularly left in his care when they were children, Steele said. 

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Beech was arrested in connection with the child pornography and molestation incidents in 2015. He was booked into Ventura County jail. 

Foiled murder plot 

While in jail custody, there was chatter among inmates about Beech wanting the two victims and other witnesses dead. Inmates reported that to sheriff's deputies, Steele said. 

Unbeknownst to Beech, an undercover officer posed as an inmate in 2017. Beech then slipped the undercover officer a note about killing the witnesses and destroying evidence, Steele said. He was then charged with soliciting the murders, Steele said.

Beech is expected to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 14 in courtroom 14. 

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Megan Diskin is a courts and breaking news reporter with The Star. Reach her at megan.diskin@vcstar.com or 805-437-0258.