BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A 36-year-old man faces life behind bars after being convicted of sexually abusing a girl starting when she was 6, prosecutors said.
Frank Delvon Rankin faces up to 40 years to life in prison plus 24 years at his sentencing hearing next month, according to a Kern County District Attorney’s office release. A jury found him guilty of each of the five charges filed against him.
The abuse began in 2012 and continued until 2020 when the victim’s mother found evidence on Rankin’s phone, prosecutors said. Rankin was a family friend.
“The targeting of a child as young as 6 years old for sexual abuse exhibits a level of depravity that must be met with the harshest penalties available under the law,” District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said in the release. “Ensuring that child predators are not allowed to victimize others requires a life-in-prison sentence, which the law permits in these extreme circumstances.”
