California Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Frank Milio learned the prosecutor wasn’t joking even if Letterman and Leno were.

The subject of recent late night comedy skits, Mr. Milio, one of two 93-year old men arrested in an increasingly common form of Internet sex sting, is actually going to trial on the charges, according to the prosecutor in Manatee County, Florida.
Read more about 93 Year Old Man Charged In Prostitution sting

As a California criminal defense lawyer specializing in sex crimes, this story says it all. Not really, but it does maybe help you understand why some “sex perverts” should be legally represented after all!

I will continue to follow the case and let you know if Mr. Milio goes to jail.

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Internet Sex/Porn , Internet Stings , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

Alex Kern, 39, former San Mateo County auditor in Redwood City, CA, who was caught with over 4,000 child pornography images on a county-issued laptop, is going to prison.

This office has received two FBI Internet porn cases recently, and this works is how it seems to work: The FBI the initiates the matter by use of Internet technology such as Internet “cookies.” They turn over the evidence to a locals0, such as the San Mateo DA, and let him do the work. Or, more commonly lately, the FBI turns the evidence over to Homeland Security or other enforcement branch with financial resources and then brings the case(s) before a federal grand jury .

Kerr had no criminal record and had pleaded for probation or at least county jail time, as opposed to prison time. He has a 14-year old daughter and an 11-year old son, he has expressed severe remorse, he is at low risk to re-offend according to is probation report, and he has just been served with divorce papers by his long-term wife.

Still, this being San Mateo County—the man got 16 months in state prison. Plus, he has the certainty of a very difficult time when he is released, as permitted by California’s sex predator laws, aside from his likely life-long federal obligations.

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bay Area Cases , California Cases , Federal Crimes , Internet Sex/Porn , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

This is not a California case, in fact it is not even an American case, but I wanted to discuss it, after seeing it reported on the Internet by News Star, in the U.K., because it highlights something I believe is too often overlooked by both prosecution and defense counsel in sex crimes cases: the pure addictive nature of this form of admittedly criminal behavior. Read the original article: Teacher had child porn
Stephen Burns, a 33 year-old recipient of the Bedfordshire school best teacher award, had no record of abusing children or acting inappropriately with children and was “well liked with a good teaching record, of good character,” with no record of anything, and he told the court he was filled with remorse.

As he described it, “I started searching the Internet for porn and came across websites with images of children . . . and became caught up in it and could not stop, even though . . . I could lose my job and go to prison.”

That is addictive behavior.

Turned in by his partner, Burns tried to justify his acts by claiming he tried to only download images of “children smiling, so they did not appear to be suffering.”

The court would have none of it, stating, “The children would not have been smiling . . . they would have been extremely distressed. You should be ashamed.”

Burns was sentenced for two years, suspended with probation, plus ten years as a required registrant on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Child Pornography , Internet Sex/Porn , Sex Addiction , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

A former Wells Fargo vice president, Kenneth Gibson, was sentenced to 135 months by U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins in an Oakland courtroom yesterday for exchanging more than 600 images of child porn over a two year period.
Gibson choked back tears and apologized to the court, after the judge said to him, “ . . . there are real children significantly impacted by this.” Gibson’s lawyer, Robert Beles, said, “You’ve basically got a good man who went into a fantasy world. Other than that, he’s never done anything wrong in his life. There is no indication his is a pedophile. [italics mine].”

Gibson’s lawyer said that his client is “still searching for reasons why he entered that subterranean, perverted world of child-porn Internet.”

This case (Kenneth Gibson) is another illustration that we have entered a new age of thought police. No harm to another person need be proven. All the government has to show is that a person’s thoughts and fantasies involve children and sex, and that person was on the Internet. This case is similar to one I had last year in Hayward where a middle-aged man merely LOOKED at pictures of young girls on files he had downloaded, for which he was charged with several felonies. In that case, the FBI electronically traced the gentleman back to his computer and turned the evidence over to the Alameda DA, who sent the sheriff to make the arrest.

Continue reading "Internet Child Porn Puts Martinez Girls’ Soccer Coach in Federal Prison for 11 years" »

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bay Area Cases , California Cases , Child Pornography , Federal Cases , Federal Crimes , Internet Sex/Porn , Internet Stings , Sentencing , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

The February 2008 issue of the ABA Journal has an interesting article entitled, The End of the Net Porn Wars.

Remember adult pornography being some serious crime? Forget about it. The government isn’t watching any more, and no one is getting prosecuted.

The latest revenue figures for the industry are $2.84 billion in 2006. Technology moves faster than legislation, the money is gushing in, and few prosecutors want to bother with adult porn.

When Alex Acosta, interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, tried to assign pornography cases to members of his staff, complaints to the Associated Press were made along the lines that the young prosecutors were “stunned” that they should be asked to prosecute adult porn.

Clyde Dewitt, an LA lawyer who represents adult industry producers and performers, “[Prosecutors] have gang activity, fraud, organized crime, drug cartels . . . nobody wants resources redirected to dirty movies. Whoever gets that assignment is the laughing stock of the department.”

All this reminds me of my days as a mom and pop ganja growers’ defense lawyer in Humboldt and Mendocino counties.

In both cases people are making large sums of money engaged in activities that many others do not engage in because they believe these activities are crimes.

In both cases, ungrounded fear of criminal consequences both lowers supply of product or services and drives up prices.

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Federal Crimes , Internet Sex/Porn , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

The Tehama County DA announced the first arrest following its newly launched Operation Safe Sam, a sting operation where the Sheriff’s office runs fake MySpace ads under the guise of an adolescent girl looking for excitement. Tehama County DA sting run on MySpace
Benjamin Dennis, 32, responded to the MySpace profile and propositioned the “girl,” according to the DA’s charge. Following 8 days of emails and after the two agreed to meet, Dennis was arrested and arraigned on February 19, 2008; his preliminary hearing is set for March 10, 2008; he faces a maximum sentence of five years, eight months in state prison; when he is released he will obligated to register as a sex offender, if convicted.

As an attorney who once lived and practiced criminal law in rural Northern CA (Humboldt and Mendocino counties), it is flat-out irresponsible to spend the little money rural county CA law enforcement has available on such stings.

If the DA was looking for those preying on pre-pubescent girls, the stings would be justified.

Although men should not be trying to have sex with teenagers, albeit teenagers not only willing to have sex but advertising for it, why spend money arresting and convicting them of when that same money could be spent trying to locate and stop real sexual predators?

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: California Cases , Internet Sex/Porn , Internet Stings , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

Today’s Academic Newswire has a fascinating review of a new study entitled, “Online Predators and Their Victims: Myths, Realities and Implications for Prevention.”
Guess what? It is the same old thing: young guys hit on young girls, and some young guys hit on younger girls. Except now they do it a lot on the Internet. And except now it is a http://www.sexcrimescounsel.com/lawyer-attorney-1278040.htmlcrime—an actively prosecuted crime in fact.
Why else is this interesting? Because, contrary to common belief and contrary to what many legislators apparently want us to believe: “MOST ONLINE SEX OFFENDERS ARE YOUNG MALES WHO TAKE THE TIME TO DEVELOP THEIR VICTIMS’ TRUST AND CONFIDENCE.” They are NOT pedophiles posing as young men to lure their victims. They are young men of legal age.

The victims are young girls, not yet of legal age, who have begun seeing the relationship in romantic and then sexual terms. Same old, same old

Lead author of the study, Janis Wolak, said, “ Most Internet-initiated sex crimes involve adult men who are open about their interest in sex. In most cases, the victims are aware that they are talking to adults.”

Among other interesting findings:

Nearly 75% of sex crime victims who met offenders face to face did so more than once
Girls who engage in 4 or more risky online behaviors—such as discussing sex online and allowing strangers to join their buddy lists—are much more likely to be victims of sex crimes
Gay boys are most susceptible to Internet sex crimes, accounting for almost one-quarter of criminal cases

The study concluded:

“Internet sex crimes involving adults and juveniles more often fit the
model of statutory rape—adult offenders who meet, develop relationships
with, and openly seduce underage teenagers—than a model of forcible
sexual assault or pedophilic child molesting.”

In other words, another example of why the Adam Walsh Act should be scrapped.

For a full look at this excellent study, go to Online "Predators" and Their Victims: Myths, Realities, and Implications for Prevention and Treatment

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Adam Walsh Act , Falsely Accused , Federal Crimes , Internet Sex/Porn , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

An East Bay physician must stand trial for attempting to engage in a sex act with a minor, according to an article appearing today in The Press Democrat. Doctor must stand trial in sex sting case

Dr. Maurice Wolin was one of 29 men arrested in August 2006 for engaging in lewd Internet chat conversations followed by attempts to meet under aged boys for sex purposes, as filmed by TV cameras. After arriving at a Petaluma home, Dr. Wolin and the other 28 men were confronted by a NBC reporter before they were arrested

The Sonoma Superior Court held that the DA has enough evidence to bring a case for attempted child molestation.

Dr. Wolin has chosen to fight the charges while at least 12 other defendants (presumably with less ready cash to pay for a defense) have already settled with plea bargains with terms that include 9 months in the county jail and life registration as a sex offender.

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bay Area Cases , California Cases , Internet Sex/Porn , Internet Stings , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

The FBI arrested a Novato, CA. school bus driver and den leader for the Boy Scouts as he entered a Marin County courtroom on state charges relating to the same crimes. Novato school bus driver facing federal pornography charges

The man, McGinnis Benedict, 52, was making a required appearance at a preliminary hearing for state charges brought for his having downloaded child porn on his lunch break at work and when his wife was asleep at night at home.

Benedict was already facing 25 felony counts for possessing child pornography in the state court when the Feds stepped in.

Use of the Internet for child porn is both a state crime and a Federal crime, carrying heavy penalties.

After the FBI arrested Benedict they asked Marin County to hold him in its jail until they can get him before a Federal judge in San Francisco. Then the feds will let him come back to Marin to face the state charges.

Benedict’s Boy Scout membership has been revoked.

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bay Area Cases , California Cases , Child Pornography , Federal Crimes , Internet Sex/Porn , Internet Stings , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

An article titled “Online Predators and Their Victims” appeared February 21, 2008, in the journal American Psychologist that identified the following myths:

Myth: Internet predators are driving up child sex crimes

Fact: Sexual assaults on teens fell 52% from 1993 to 2005

Myth: Internet predators are pedophiles

Fact: Internet predators target adolescents, not prepubescent children

Myth: Internet predators represent a new dimension to child sexual abuse

Fact: Most Internet-related offenses are essentially statutory rape: non-forcible sex with minors too young to consent Internet predators abduct or trick the victims

Fact: Three quarters of the victims have repeat sex with the predator and go to the first face-to-face meeting expecting to have sex

Myth: Internet predators pose online as teens in order to meet teens

Fact: 95% of predators do not pose as teenagers to meet teenagers

Myth: Internet predators go after any child

Fact: Internet predators target boys and girls of uncertain sexual orientation, often with a history of sexual abuse and risk-taking

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Child Pornography , Federal Crimes , Internet Sex/Porn , Internet Stings , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

Charges filed against radio talk show host Bernie Ward resulted from his obeying the dominatrix’ command to, “Send me some [pictures]; why haven’t I gotten any pics, slave?” Judge unseals indictment against Bernie Ward
In response, the popular talk show host promptly obeyed with a picture of a naked boy sitting between a topless woman and a clothed young girl. This picture prompted the dominatrix to contact the Oakdale, CA. police, telling them that the former priest had also emailed her messages about group sex at a San Mateo porn theater.

The Oakdale police contacted the FBI and a federal grand jury indicted Ward on two counts of possessing and distributing child pornography using the Internet.

Ward’s business attorney, Jeannette Boudreau, said, “The authorities have been in possession of these messages for three years. Bernie was only just indicted in December [2007]. There is no doubt in my mind that they would have allowed Bernie to conduct his family and work life as usual for all that time if they believed the content of the messages to be factual.”

This is just another illustration that you are completely, 100% exposing yourself to any possible claim on the Internet. Remember, when it comes to child porn and the Internet you do not have the same rights and privileges under the law as defendants do for other crimes. I write more about this at www.sexcrimescounsel.com

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bay Area Cases , California Cases , Celebrity and Odd Ball , Child Pornography , FBI , Federal Crimes , Internet Sex/Porn , Sex Crimes

Bookmark:

The Kentucky Attorney General is proposing new legislation dealing with Internet sex crimes, which state legislators have promised to enact. Attorney General Conway & Representative Bell Introduce Cybersafety Legislation

Law enforcement will be permitted to use “specially trained or non-sworn personnel” for online stings.

Prosecution of the 350 Kentucky registered sex offenders who have been removed by MySpace and Facebook will be enabled.

Online identities of offenders will be included in their state sex registry record - bringing Kentucky into compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

Amends the state’s stalking statute to include cyberstalking.

In addition to its self described “cybersafety legislation,” the Attorney General’s office has pledged to create an Internet Crimes Unit.

Posted by Douglas R. Slain | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Federal Crimes , Internet Sex/Porn , Internet Stings , Sentencing , Sex Crimes

Bookmark: