Owner of Long Beach 'sex dungeon' where body was found buried sentenced to 6 years, 8 months in prison

A Long Beach man was sentenced six years and eight months in state prison for maintaining what a judge called a "sex dungeon with the promise of drugs."

Scott Leo, 55, was initially charged with murder after being arrested in August of 2020, more than two years after 31-year-old Zachary Kennedy was found buried with his feet severed in his backyard. Kennedy was last seen alive at Leo's home on Oct. 22, 2017, and had been reported missing that month.

Prosecutors had alleged that the investigation into Kennedy's disappearance showed Leo was aware of Kennedy had been in medical distress due to an overdose, but he failed to call emergency services. Leo then deprived Kennedy's parents of closure by "hiding the body and lying to the world," as sex and drug parties continued "just feet away" from Kennedy, Superior Court Judge Daniel Lowenthal said.

Leo was taken back into custody after being convicted March 1 of a felony count of maintaining a place for selling or using a controlled substance and two felony counts of sale/transportation/offer to sell a controlled substance involving methamphetamine and GHB. The judge, who previously ruled there was not enough evidence to require Leo to stand trial on a murder charge, rejected defense attorney's bid for a probationary sentence, calling Leo's home a house of horrors and where he lured young men "to a sex dungeon with the promise of drugs."

"He was happy until he met you, Scott Leo," Kennedy's father said in a statement read in court. "You are a predator…you stole my son's life."