Some criminals are so vile and dangerous and their crimes so despicable that a judge stares them in the eye and hands down a throw-away-the-key prison sentence.

That’s what serial child molester Armando Martinez, 37, got Thursday from Judge Melinda Reed in Department 6 of Tulare County Superior Court in Visalia.

Reed sentenced the Porterville man to 612 years to life in state prison following 31 convictions of child molestation, including forcible rape. The sentence was the maximum by statute.

Twenty-three of the crimes were committed between July 18 and Aug. 5, 2018, against a girl who was between 4 and 14 years old at the time of the sexual assaults.

Martinez committed eight other sexual assaults between February 28, 2017, and Aug. 5, 2018, against another girl. She turned 8 years old during the time frame of the attacks.

All of Martinez’s felony assaults took place in Porterville.

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Prosecution, Investigative Teams

Tulare County deputy district attorney Chelsea Wayt of the Crimes against Children Division prosecuted the case. Porterville Police Sgt. Orlando Ortiz and officer Jesus Gallardo were the investigators.