An Agoura Hills man was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for Camarillo-area sex crimes involving a 15-year-old girl he met through his work as a Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective.

Neil Kimball, 46, received the maximum sentence under the law for felony lewd act on a child and felony unlawful sexual intercourse. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender. Kimball pleaded guilty in July to the charges stemming from October 2017 allegations.

Famed women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, representing the victim and her family, read victim impact statements at Thursday’s hearing in Ventura County Superior Court. The girl was not in the courtroom as Allred read the letters, but the victim’s father was.

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“I’ve watched my whole life fall apart,” Allred said, reading from the girl’s letter.

In it, the victim explains how she’s been working hard to gain back her life, including treatment at mental health facilities. She has since been diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, Allred said.

The girl has lost all faith in the justice system and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, Allred said from the letter.

Douglas Ridley, Kimball’s defense attorney, said his client has acknowledged his wrongdoing. The investigation into this case started after he came forward and confessed, Ridley told the court.

“He has remorse — as much as possible a human being could have — for what he did to that poor girl,” Ridley said.

The victim and Kimball met through his work. She had reported to authorities that she was a victim of sexual assault in Los Angeles, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Patrice Koenig previously told The Star that Kimball befriended the teen and spent time with her outside the scope of the investigation. The alleged incident occurred in a mobile home owned by Kimball that was parked in the Camarillo area.

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At Thursday’s hearing, Koenig told the court it doesn’t seem right that three years is the maximum term in the case, “but we are not the Legislature, and our hands are tied by this.”

Kimball’s felony conviction will ensure that he will not work as a law officer again, Koenig said. He abused his position of public trust, she said.

It’s unclear what Kimball’s status is with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Judge Bruce Young presided over the hearing and echoed comments by Koenig about how troubling the case is, given what his law enforcement role was.

“You damaged the reputation of law enforcement statewide, Mr. Kimball,” Young said.

In an age of mass shootings like in El Paso, Gilroy and Thousand Oaks, the public needs to be able to rely on first responders, Young said.

The judge encouraged the victim and her family to continue to seek help in order to work through what happened. He also told the teen’s father that it wasn’t her fault and it wasn’t his fault, either. The girl’s dad sat quietly in the back of the courtroom wearing sunglasses.

Earlier in the hearing, Allred read a letter from the victim’s father, a former police officer who expressed guilt about not being able to protect his daughter. He trusted Kimball when he said he was taking his daughter on a ride-along, Allred said.

Kimball was ordered to have no contact with the victim.

Megan Diskin is a courts and breaking news reporter with The Star. Reach her at megan.diskin@vcstar.com or 805-437-0258.