A California man working as a nanny said he prided himself on bringing smiles to kids that he sexually molested before being sentenced to over 700 years behind bars.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced, Matthew Zakrzewski, 34, was found guilty of 34 felony counts including lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under 14 for his evil abuse of children which included molesting 16 young boys trusted under his care, and showing pornography to a 17th.
Zakrzewski acted out his horrific crimes over a span of three years between January 2014 to May 2019. His victims ranged in age from 2 to 12-years old.
“I prided myself on bringing smiles to your children and all the good times we shared were 100 percent genuine,” Zakrzewski said before Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger read him his fate.
This sick monster that posed a s kind and caring nanny, found work through his website. He referred to himself as the “original Sitter Buddy” and offered several services including; babysitting, mentorships, and overnight and vacation babysitting.
Several family members of the abused children called Zakrzewski a “master manipulator” during victim impact statements.
“A death sentence is too good for him. Please show no mercy on this animal,” a grandmother of two of the victims said.
Meanwhile, other parents claimed they were left with copious amounts of guilt for having hired such a monster to watch their children.
“I will be dealing with guilt for the rest of my life for letting this animal in my life,” one mother said. “I hired a babysitter once in my life. Just once in my life.”
“He came to our home once a month for a year,” a mother whose 2-year-old son fell victim to Zakrzewski. “One of the first things he taught him was to keep secrets.”
The district attorney called the case a loss of innocence and childhoods of the 17 children.
“This is a case of shattered innocence and precious childhoods that were robbed from 17 little boys,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. “These children will never know the people they were truly intended to be, because their childhoods were suddenly and inexplicably interrupted not by a wolf at the door, but by a predator masquerading as godsend.”
He was found guilty of the 34 felony charges in October, where at the time was facing a maximum jail time of 690 years to life plus eight years.
In her closing remarks during the trial, prosecutor Juliet Oliver revealed Zakrzewski had an “entire book” on pedophilia on his computer, and had videotaped most of the evidence used against him.
He was only caught after one of the children’s parents reported him to the police for inappropriately touching her eight-year-old son and sharing a concern for other children back in early May 2019.
Laguna Beach Police Department’s Major Crimes & Intelligence Unit opened up an investigation into Zakrzewski and discovered a second seven-year-old victim in Los Angeles and 10 more boys across Southern California.
He was arrested on May 17, 2019, at a local airport after deboarding an international flight.
After initially filing five felony charges against Zakrzewski investigators asked the public for help identifying other potential victims through video evidence and tips resulting in the additional charges.
