A Folsom man and self-proclaimed prophet was recently sentenced to life in prison for what is being called one of the most horrific child sexual abuses cases in the greater Sacramento area.

Allen Harrod, 61, was found guilty by a federal jury in February 2008 of six counts of the interstate travel of four minors for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual conduct with children, including his own, and one count each for the “transfer” of his 7-year-old son for sexual purposes.

A second defendant, Michael LaBrecque, 50, of Fort Worth, Texas was also sentenced to life in prison for his role in producing sexually explicit images of Harrod’s son.

“Harrod’s self-proclaimed religion, a loosely defined amalgam of doctrine derived from the Book of Mormon and the Bible, promoted the sexual abuse of children as a means of promoting each child’s sexual maturation from childhood to adulthood,” said US Assistant Attorney Laurel D. White who prosecuted the case.

Judge Shubb imposed the statutory maximum sentence of 15 years for each of the six travel counts, and ordered that they be run consecutively for a total of 1,080 months, or 90 years. The life sentence imposed by the Judge for Harrod’s transfer, and Labrecque’s assumption of custody of the Harrod boy for purposes of producing child pornography, was ordered to run concurrently with the 1,080 months imposed in the other six counts.

Folsom Police Department officials initially investigated the case in the late 1990s.

“These are very serious charges (Harrod) was found guilty of,” said Sgt. Rick Hillman, spokesman for the department. “We are very pleased with the sentence. Harrod’s a pedophile that should not be out on the streets.”

Harrod reportedly handed over custody of his then 7-year-old son to La Brecque. In July 1991 the boy traveled to Fort Worth, Texas with his mother, Irene Hunt, and lived in the LaBrecque household where he was home-schooled and photographed engaged in sexually explicit conduct with LaBrecque’s wife, Juliette LaBrecque. The evidence also revealed that another purpose of transporting Harrod’s son to Texas was to train him in sexual activity for the purpose of some day assuming his father’s role as the patriarch of the two families.

According to court documents, Harrod and LaBrecque, along with their wives, engaged in “ritualistic sex acts” with children from both families as part of a “religion” started by Harrod and LaBrecque, one of his followers.

Judge Shubb said that this was one of the most “serious cases” he has seen in more than a decade.

Children of both men testified during the 2003 trial that they were sexually abused by the defendants.

The testimony and evidence introduced at trial also revealed that LaBrecque engaged in ongoing sexual activity with his daughters prior to each girl’s travel to Sacramento in order to prepare them for the sex acts each would engage in with Harrod. Evidence revealed that LaBrecque would begin to sexually train his daughters when they were about 7 or 8 years old. Evidence offered at trial, however, revealed one daughter was as young as 4 years old when the sex began.

“The victim’s in the case will live with this forever,” Hillman said. “They are already serving a life sentence.”

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the two counts involving Juliette LaBrecque and charges against her were dismissed.

Harrod’s common-law wife, Irene Hunt, had previously pleaded guilty in federal court pursuant to a plea agreement wherein she agreed to cooperate with the government and testify against the others.

Penne Usher can be reached at penne.usher@gmail.com.