The former owner of a Santee car restoration business who was convicted of molesting two underage girls has been sentenced 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 jury of more than a dozen counts related to sex acts with minors.
At Cantor’s sentencing hearing in El Cajon, 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, 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 of 2022, a passerby called police after seeing Cantor kissing the girl in his car.
In July of 2024, a San Diego Superior Court judge awarded the victim over $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.”
Prior to 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.”