The former owner of a Santee car restoration business who was convicted of molesting two underage girls was sentenced Friday to 23 years and four months in state prison.
Joshua Cantor, 46, who owned Evolve Custom Automotive Restoration, was found guilty by an El Cajon Superior Court jury of more than a dozen counts related to sex acts with minors.
At Cantor’s sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Alexandra Lorens said Cantor ingratiated himself with the families of the two victims so they would feel comfortable with him around their children, then groomed and manipulated the minors.
One of the victims sued Cantor, and in her lawsuit, she alleged he used the then-17-year-old girl’s interest in cars to get close to her. The complaint accused Cantor of sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions, taking nude photographs of the teen and telling her of “a ‘secret room’ he had at his workshop” where he had sex with girls and took photographs of them.
The lawsuit alleged that in April 2022, a passerby called police after seeing Cantor kissing the girl in his car.
In July 2024, a San Diego Superior Court judge awarded the victim more than $1.54 million in damages.
The victim’s attorney in the civil case, Maria Severson, said in a statement after Cantor’s sentencing hearing, “There is no amount of money or amount of liability that Joshua Cantor can give to make the pain of what he did go away. His despicable conduct leaves a lifetime impression on his victims.”
Before imposing the sentence, Superior Court Judge Daniel Lamborn denied a request from the self-represented Cantor to suspend criminal proceedings based on the argument that he was mentally incompetent. Defendants are considered mentally incompetent if it is found that they do not understand the nature of the proceedings or are unable to assist their attorney.
But the judge said Cantor has “a history of deceit and dishonesty” and said he believed the motion was a delay tactic, prompting Cantor to loudly and repeatedly object throughout the hearing. Cantor made numerous statements indicating that he did not understand what was happening, while also accusing the judge of lying and called the proceeding “an absolute miscarriage of justice.”
When Cantor continued to speak as the victims made their impact statements, the judge ordered Cantor removed from the courtroom, though he was still able to view the proceedings remotely on a computer in an adjoining room.
Both victims said they now have a difficult time trusting others due to their experiences with Cantor. One of the victims said that while therapy has helped her to some degree, she continues to feel “embarrassed, ashamed and scared, even though none of this was my fault.”
Lamborn later described Cantor as “a continuous danger to the community and to young girls in the community” and said that while he had seen worse crimes in his courtroom, he had “never seen anybody like Mr. Cantor” in terms of being “persistent in his deflection of personal responsibility.”