Photo: Los Angeles County
She laughed about the sentencing.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Feb 25, 2022
A convicted offender who has been charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl was heard laughing and bragging about her plea deal and the light sentencing she had received for the crime.
Hannah Tubbs, who identifies as a transgender woman, received a shocking sentence of two years in a juvenile facility, despite being 26 years old.
In an audio recording from November, Tubbs can be heard boasting to her father that she won't have to register as a sex offender, and that "nothing" will be done to punish her for assaulting the 10-year-old child.
Hannah Tubbs was recorded laughing about her sentence.
"I'm gonna plead guilty to it. They're gonna stick me on probation, and it's gonna be dropped, it's gonna be done, I won't have to register, won't have to do nothing," Tubbs said in a phone call with her father.
"You won't have to register?" Tubbs' father can be heard asking, to which she confirms the fact, then laughs. Tubbs is not required to register as a sex offender because the crime had been committed before she had become an adult.
She was also making crude and belittling comments aimed at the child she had abused, reportedly joking about her sexual attraction towards the 10-year-old.
It had been a DNA match in 2019 that linked Tubbs to a sexual assault incident that had occured at a Denny's restaurant in Palmdale, California, back in 2014. Tubbs later admitted to the assault, saying that it had happened in the restaurant's bathroom.
The crime had happened just before Tubbs had turned 18, and had been allowed to remain free of charge until the DNA match.
The case was prosecuted in juvenile court and was not transferred to adult court due to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón's policy that states juveniles won't be prosecuted as adults. However, Gascón has now admitted that Tubbs may have been given too lenient of a sentencing.
Tubbs's victim, who is now 18, slammed the District Attorney for his handling of the case, which she described as being "insulting."
"The things [Tubbs] did to me and made me do that day were beyond horrible for a 10-year-old girl to have to go through," the teenager said of Tubbs, who had been identifying as a male during the time of the assault.
"That man was very clear minded and old enough to know what he did that day was wrong and still did it anyway. It's something I struggle with and it's insulting that this is all he was given as punishment. And I want something done about it."
Tubbs's sentence has generated criticism.
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued a statement in response to Tubbs' sentencing. "The outcome of the Tubbs case is unsatisfactory. Judge Barrera's hands were tied today - due to the fact that the DA's office failed to file a motion to transfer Tubbs to adult criminal court, which is where she rightly belongs."
"Instead, we're left with a 26 year-old individual sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility in isolation, separated by sight and sound from the other juveniles. To carry out justice, all of the oars in the criminal justice system must be rowing in the same direction. Today, that simply didn't happen."
The victim, who had refused to be in court and see Tubbs, had written in a statement, "I feel that I’m to blame somehow, when I know deep down that isn’t the case. I chose not to come into court because I couldn’t stand the thought of having to see my attackers' face again."
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.