A deputy pleaded guilty to groping women. He faces more than 3 years in prison | Teri Figueroa

A former sheriff’s deputy who admitted on-the-job misconduct with 16 women was sentenced Tuesday to three years and eight months in jail, plus 16 months under supervision in the community, for behavior a judge described as “abhorrent.” Richard Timothy Fischer, 33, pleaded guilty in September to seven criminal counts — none of them specifically charged as sex crimes, though sexual misconduct was at the core of several allegations. Under that deal, he faced up to five years in custody. That’s technically what he received because of California’s public safety realignment law, which allows some non-violent offenders to serve part of their sentence locally, in county jail rather than state prison, and part of the term on mandatory supervision. Fischer was taken into custody at the end of the hearing in the Vista courthouse. He must serve 22 months in jail before he is eligible for release.