Prosecutor suspended for misgendering trans child molester speaks out
Shea Sanna, the prosecutor suspended by Los Angeles DA George Gascon for misgendering trans child molester Hannah Tubbs, says Gascon is a "politician, not a prosecutor" on "America Reports."
BURNEY, Calif. – EXCLUSIVE: A convicted trans California child molester is awaiting trial on unrelated murder charges, but his father denies those allegations, saying the victim was "suicidal" prior to his death and that jailhouse phone calls discussing the case and lenient punishment have been taken out of context.
Hannah Tubbs gained infamy last year after Los Angeles prosecutors brought child molestation crimes in connection with a 2014 sex assault in a Denny's bathroom.
Tubbs' father, Eddie Tubbs, claimed that the case only became controversial because critics were vying to have the Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon recalled.
"They were trying to get rid of him, and that's why that all got blown up," he said. "Just because you don’t like the way somebody’s operating … you don’t go recall – that’s what you voted for."
Hannah Tubbs began identifying as female after being arrested last year in connection with a 2014 child molestation case in Los Angeles County. Tubbs has pleaded not guilty to an April 2019 murder in nearby Kern County. (Los Angeles County)
Under Gascon's mandates for suspects under 18, the then-26-year-old Tubbs received a softball sentence of two years in a juvenile facility for girls because the date of the offense was just days before Tubbs' 18th birthday.
Shea Sanna, a Los Angeles prosecutor who was suspended last month for "misgendering" and "deadnaming" Tubbs after the suspect asked to be housed in a female juvenile facility, has raised safety concerns for the girls in custody there.
"It wasn’t like I was going around being transphobic or malicious – I brought it to their attention that they have a convicted child rapist trying to get himself into a juvenile facility as a woman and he rapes little girls," he said. "Does anybody see a problem with that?"
Tubbs is shown in 2014 surveillance video in connection with a sexual attack on a 10-year-old girl at a California Denny's restaurant. (Los Angeles Sheriff)
Before Tubbs could complete the Los Angeles sentence, prosecutors in Kern County announced first-degree murder charges in the death of Michael Clark, a Washington 22-year-old found in the Kern River after he was beaten to death with a rock in 2019.
Tubbs, now 27, is scheduled to go to trial on March 27. But Eddie Tubbs says the suspect has been plagued by physical and mental problems, been on disability since birth and never had a job, according to the father. He said the physical disabilities would have prevented Hannah Tubbs from committing the slaying.
Eddie Tubbs runs errands on March 2, 2023. Tubbs is the father of Hannah Tubbs, who began identifying as female after being arrested last year in connection with a 2014 child molestation case in Los Angeles County. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
"The kid that died, he stayed at our place for a while, and we had to end up having him put in a mental institution a couple times because he was really suicidal," Eddie Tubbs, the 66-year-old father of Hannah Tubbs, told Fox News Digital Monday. "I think it was twice that we had to put him in there."
Eddie Tubbs said he has not visited Hannah in the Kern County lockup, citing the nine-hour drive.
FLASHBACK: Los Angeles district attorney under fire after disturbing audio leaked from violent sex offender
Despite the guilty plea in Los Angeles, which resulted in a two-year sentence in a juvenile facility thanks to Gascon, the elder Tubbs said the family was in Washington state at the time.
"No one wants to believe their son is a murdering child molester," Sanna, a Los Angeles prosecutor, told Fox News Digital on Monday.
Deputy District Attorney Shea Sanna at the Hannah Tubbs hearing in Antelope Valley Juvenile Court, California, on Jan. 27, 2022. (Dave Buchan)
Sanna has argued in the past that jailhouse calls show Hannah Tubbs was attempting to use gender identity to game the justice system – an argument that sources say made others in Gascon's office uncomfortable and led to the suspension.
Before arriving in Los Angeles, Hannah went by the name James Tubbs and identified as a male. That is the same name on a lengthy rap sheet that includes charges of domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon and other attacks on young girls in multiple states.
Kern County court records are listed under the name Hannah Tubbs, although the jail is still using James Tubbs, the suspect's birth name. The sheriff's office said in a statement that jail authorities use the preferred pronouns of an inmate but also their legal name.
WATCH: Los Angeles DA Gascon suspends prosecutor for 'misgendering' child molester
In a series of jailhouse phone calls, according to law enforcement sources, the younger and older Tubbs were heard discussing the creation of the Hannah Tubbs identity in order to improve how the suspect was being "housed" in a Los Angeles jail – and how Gascon's lenient juvenile policies meant the convicted pedophile would not have to register as a sex offender.
When asked if Hannah had indicated a desire to transition prior to arriving in Los Angeles, Eddie Tubbs replied, "Hannah was molested when she was like 12."
CALIFORNIA TRANS CHILD MOLESTER HANNAH TUBBS GLOATS OVER LIGHT SENTENCE IN JAILHOUSE PHONE CALLS
Tubbs was due to be paroled from state prison after serving a sentence for assault with a deadly weapon in Kern County in 2021 – but L.A. prosecutors asked for a custody transfer so that he could face justice in the 2014 sex assault of a 10-year-old girl in a Denny's restaurant bathroom.
However, under Gascon's direction, the 2014 case remained in juvenile court because Tubbs was under 18 at the time of the attack – just days from legal adulthood.
In recordings obtained by Fox News last year, the pair can be heard discussing the 10-year-old victim, Hannah Tubbs' gender identity and an expected plea deal.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / File)
"So, now they're going to put me with other trannies that have seen their cases like mine or with one tranny like me that has a case like mine," the younger Tubbs says. "So, when you come to court, make sure you address me as ‘her.’"
They also discussed the 10-year-old victim in a manner that is unfit for print, and when the inmate floated the idea of getting a sex change surgery to go into a women's prison, the father noted, "There's some b---es in there, too."
Eddie Tubbs on Monday denied the characterization of the unprinted remarks and said the conversation had been taken out of context.
"I asked what was going on, what was happening, and they turned it out like nobody was concerned about anything," he said. He did not point out specifics.
Eddie Tubbs runs errands on March 2, 2023. Tubbs is the father of Hannah Tubbs, who began identifying as female after being arrested last year in connection with a 2014 child molestation case in Los Angeles County. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
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The younger Tubbs has a history of convictions of violent crimes and drug offenses in California, Washington and Idaho – and has been accused of at least two other attacks on girls in addition to the one in Los Angeles.
The accused killer faces life in prison if convicted in Clark's death. The murder trial is scheduled to begin on March 27. Other charges include threatening witnesses, robbery and assault resulting in great bodily injury.
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