>
>And when they come to the house,there's no actual sexual congress
>with a minor, just a chat with a
>slimy TV host. Why is this not entrapment?
>
>Doug
We'll soon see:
TV show on trial along with suspect
By John Simerman
Contra Costa Times Article Launched:08/04/2007 03:00:36 AM PDT
SANTA ROSA -- "She begged me to come. I know that doesn't make it right ... but I never would have done anything."
That was Dr. Maurice Wolin's woeful plea last August as he sat in a camera-rigged trailer inside a Petaluma airport hangar and told a detective that he was only curious about the "girl" he met in an online chat room.
Going by "talldreamydoc," the Piedmont oncologist and former Chiron executive had promised "willowfilipino" sexual pleasure in graphic detail, then repeatedly told her he couldn't. Then he drove to see her that Saturday, only to face shouting cops and the lights, camera, action of "To Catch a Predator," Dateline NBC's crime sting cash cow.
A year later, that same argument -- that he was illegally badgered into coming and never intended or attempted to molest "her" -- is the centerpiece of a defense that Wolin's celebrity lawyer will wage before a Sonoma County judge Monday to save him from a trial.
Similar arguments are common in pedophile sting operations. What's different is that the show and its unusual arrangement among police, NBC and a controversial online vigilante group called Perverted Justice have largely escaped courtroom scrutiny.
With their actions on film and in graphic line-by-line printouts, suspects from the show nearly always plead guilty to avoid trial. None of the 29 suspects from the Petaluma sting has gone to trial, said a spokeswoman for the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office.
"Everybody pleads (guilty). Everybody's so humiliated by the rack and screw they've been put on, on national television," said Wolin's attorney, Blair Berk, whose roster of star-crossed clients includes Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan.
"I'm ashamed about how little these issues have been litigated," she added.
Fans laud the show for exposing potentially dangerous pedophiles and raising awareness of Internet luring, but Berk and other critics say it drags suspects through the pixelized muck, breaking ethical and possibly legal bounds in the process.
Wolin, 49, whose medical license has been suspended, has lost his reputation and his job from that 40-mile drive north and a "Predator" episode that was among the most watched in the ongoing series of shows from 11 stings so far.
Nearly 9 million viewers, and millions more in repeats, saw his face flush with misery as police swarmed in with guns drawn and Wolin hurled his sunglasses to the ground. They listened in as he called his wife and told her to bring a bail check for $30,000 but not to bring their girls. "I didn't do anything," he told her, "but I did something stupid."
"Willow" was really Xavier Von Erck, the fiery 27-year-old founder of Perverted Justice, a group of volunteers who pose as children online and troll for predators, then turn over chat logs to police. NBC pays the group a reported $100,000 per episode.
Berk will argue at a preliminary hearing that Von Erck entrapped Wolin, cajoling him into meeting and berating him as "just a chicken and a liar and a ditcher and a player" after Wolin wrote that he "couldn't do anything" and was "not ready yet." She also will argue that driving to the house and meeting a decoy, given those chat refusals, was not enough for a crime attempt.
Wolin, 49, faces a charge of attempted lewd and lascivious conduct with a child younger than 14. If convicted, he would likely face jail time and must register as a sex offender. Another East Bay suspect from the sting, Mohammed Aksoum of Walnut Creek, pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to nine months in jail and three years of probation.
At least one suspect from the "Predator" series has gone to trial. David Kaye, a Maryland rabbi, was sentenced to more than six years in prison. Supporters and critics alike say they know of no cases in which an entrapment defense -- or any defense -- has led to acquittal.
Bradd Russ, training director for the federal Internet Crimes Against Children task force, said police agencies who work on the show violate basic police procedures, bending their own rules to accommodate the network and allowing a private group to run major parts of an investigation.
"There are real moral and ethical issues with the way they're conducting business. We've seen their chat logs. I think there are definitely entrapment issues," said Russ. "The fact law enforcement allows themselves to abdicate their role and responsibility and become agents for the media and actors for the media is very disturbing."
The show came under fire last year after an assistant prosecutor in Texas killed himself when police and a Dateline NBC crew arrived at his door to ask about his online chats, though he never showed up for the sting.
The district attorney refused to prosecute any of the 25 men caught in that sting, saying he couldn't be sure of the evidence provided by Perverted Justice.
"One concern is the preservation of evidence. How do we know we're getting all of the chats, everything like that?" said Lori McPherson, a senior attorney for the National District Attorneys Association who handles online crimes against children.
"I know that's one of the issues prosecutors have run into, getting access to the computer they have used."
In some cases, police have deputized Perverted Justice volunteers.
Marsha Bartel, a former producer of the show who is suing NBC for breach of contract, saying the network dropped her for raising concerns, says the payments to Perverted Justice amount to a "financial incentive to lie to and trick targets of its sting."
The network denies the merits of her lawsuit but declined to comment on the allegations, NBC spokeswoman Jenny Tartikoff said in an e-mail. Network officials "regularly have open and critical discussions about ethics and journalistic standards," Tartikoff said.
A Petaluma police captain likened Perverted Justice to volunteers who help with liquor store "shoulder-tapping" stings. Capt. Dan Fish said the department had planned to do the sting on its own, but it sought Perverted Justice for technical assistance. NBC asked to be included, hoping for big Bay Area ratings with episodes from the hometown of Polly Klaas, who was abducted and murdered in 1993.
Fish said police developed a detailed, six-page operations manual for the sting, which also included county sheriff's deputies, Santa Rosa police and an on-scene prosecutor.
"We wanted to send a message that Petaluma needs to be a safe place for children," said Fish.
One legal scholar sees little problem with using a group like Perverted Justice if they work closely with police.
"To the extent they do, it's very good. They're like a community watch, where the community is cyberspace," said Audrey Rogers, an associate law professor at Pace Law School.
Defendants in sex sting cases have struggled to minimize the fact that they showed up at the house, said Rogers, author of "New Technology, Old Defenses: Internet Sting Operations and Attempt Liability."
"There was even a case where a guy showed up at the scene, drove away and still his conviction was affirmed," she said.
Von Erck, a self-described "Childless Atheist Libertarian" who lives in Portland, ignored a list of e-mailed questions about the group or its tactics butmocked Wolin's defense.
"So far all cases brought by prosecutors based on our evidence have gone to conviction and sentencing, a 100% conviction rate. This case will be no different," he wrote.
The episode shows a female decoy inviting Wolin to sit in the backyard and have a glass of chilled lemonade as she leaves to change into a bathing suit. He spills the lemonade, then peers behind the screen from where "Predator" host Chris Hansen would often emerge to confront would-be pedophiles.
Wolin suddenly turns and hurries out. Police stop him in the garage.
"The entire nation watched the sequence," Van Erck said in an e-mail. "It's a very amusing defense and I look forward to all in the court-room being amused when she attempts such an awful defense."
Reach John Simerman at 925-943-8072 or <mailto:jsimerman at cctimes.com>jsimerman at cctimes.com.