LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A young Lower Lake man who was a standout high school athlete has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term for the sexual abuse of a child that was recorded and shared over social media platforms.

Peerliss Christopher Brooke, 23, was sentenced to 40 years to life and lifetime sex offender registration during a Sept. 30 hearing before Judge J. David Markham.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Rich Watson said Brooke’s sentence was the result of a plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office in which Brooke pleaded no contest to sexual intercourse and oral copulation with a victim under 10 years old.

While the 40 years to life sentence is a lengthy one, Brooke’s agreement to the plea deal is explained by the fact that he was facing 100 years or more in prison upon conviction at trial, Watson said.

Watson said the Brooke matter was “up there with the worst that I have dealt with” among sexual abuse cases.

“It’s really twisted,” Watson added.

Brooke had no criminal history before the case, said Watson.

He also had been a standout football player and wrestler at Lower Lake High School, based on online school sports reports.

FBI investigation leads to arrest

Watson said the investigation into the Brooke case started on Sept. 21, 2023.

The case began as the Federal Bureau of Investigation was following a lead in a child pornography case involving a male subject on the North Coast, Watson said.

That subject was on Facebook Live with a male in Clearlake — later identified as Brooke. Watson said Brooke was in the midst of sexually assaulting the child while filming it and the other man was instructing him on what to do with images and video.

Watson said the FBI identified a 7-year-old female victim they believed lived in Lake County and they contacted the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Clearlake Police Department.

With the child identified, authorities went to the child’s home and notified her mother. Watson said that led to a forensic interview with the child victim on that same night at the Multi-Disciplinary Interview Center, which is part of the District Attorney’s Office.

That interview, Watson said, involved a trained forensic interviewer who asked nonleading questions in a manner that would allow the statements to come in in a court proceeding. It’s a process followed with child victims.

During that interview, the victim identified Brooke, said she knew him and that she had made videos with him, Watson said.

The next day — Sept. 22, 2023 — Clearlake Police Det. Leo Flores and an FBI agent executed a search warrant at Brooke’s home. Watson said when they reviewed his social media accounts, they found images and video of Brooke sexually assaulting the girl.

Watson said investigators confronted Brooke about the sexual assault and showed him a picture of the victim. Brooke told them that a person on Instagram offered him money for the photos, but he didn’t know her name and she never paid him.

The Clearlake Police Department arrested Brooke the same day as the search warrant service. Watson said Brooke was arraigned on Sept. 26, 2023. Defense attorney Tom Quinn, then a public defender with Lake Indigent Defense, was appointed to represent Brooke.

When contacted about the case, Quinn did not wish to offer comment for this story.

Watson said that the DA’s Office immediately made its plea offer to Brooke, although it wasn’t initially accepted.

A preliminary hearing was set for Dec. 11, 2023, but Watson said that was waived, and it was set for jury trial, initially in May of this year, then it was continued to August.

On Aug. 16, a settlement conference was held, Watson said. “The offer never changed and he ended up pleading to it that day.”

Watson said Brooke pleaded no contest to sexual intercourse with a victim under 10 years old, which carries a statutory term of 25 years to life, and oral copulation on a victim under 10 years old, which has a 15-years-to-life statutory term. Those terms were made consecutive, leading to his aggregate total of 40 years to life in state prison, plus the lifetime sex offender registration.

That led to Judge Markham’s sentencing of Brooke on Sept. 30, Watson said.

Youth offender rules may allow for earlier parole hearings

On Oct. 3, Brooke was transported to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The agency’s inmate locator said he is serving his time at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi.

Brooke’s parole eligible date currently is set at September 2047, but the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website entry on Brooke said that is subject to change, noting that Brooke will be eligible for a parole suitability hearing as a youth offender because he committed his “controlling offense” while under the age of 26.

“The incarcerated person’s first parole hearing will be scheduled during his or her 15th, 20th, or 25th year of incarceration, depending on the sentence imposed by the court,” the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website said.

State penal code allows for such exceptions in youth offender cases when the sentence is 25 years to life.

The penal code also allows for the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to authorize state inmates in circumstances such as Brooke’s to obtain an earlier youth parole eligible date

There are more parts to the investigation that began with the FBI that are still underway, said Watson, who noted that the FBI’s involvement showed how big the investigation is.

“There’s ongoing investigation into the other parties that were involved with the Instagram images and videos involving Peerliss Brooke and this victim,” said Watson, with multiple law enforcement agencies involved.

Watson said he is now preparing to charge the other man who was involved with instructing Brooke over Facebook Live during the child’s sexual assault.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, and on Bluesky, @erlarson.bsky.social. Find Lake County News on the following platforms: Facebook, @LakeCoNews; X, @LakeCoNews; Threads, @lakeconews, and on Bluesky, @lakeconews.bsky.social.