Molestation

A Simi Valley man who draws a cartoon called "Chester the Molester" for Hustler Magazine was charged Friday with molesting a teen-age girl, authorities said. Dwaine Tinsley, 43, was arrested at his home Thursday, a day after the girl complained to police, Simi Valley Police Lt. Bob Klamser said. The Ventura County district attorney's office filed nine sexual molestation charges against Tinsley in connection with incidents alleged to have occurred from 1983 to 1986, said Deputy Dist.

Yorba Linda Mayor Michael Beverage was acquitted by a Municipal Court judge Monday of charges that he molested his teen-aged stepson. After the prosecution had presented its case, North Orange County Municipal Judge Robert B. Hutson granted a defense motion that Beverage be acquitted of the misdemeanor charge because his guilt had not been established beyond a reasonable doubt. Deputy Dist. Atty. Mathew Vallance was unavailable for comment.

Former Compton Dominguez High basketball coach Russell Otis was ordered Friday to stand trial on charges that he attempted to molest one of his players and embezzled $15,000 intended for his team. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gary Hahn made that decision after listening to four days of testimony during a preliminary hearing in Compton. He ordered Otis, who is free on bail, to return to court July 6 for arraignment.

An Ocean Beach video arcade owner who ran a Bible study group for boys and chaperoned the boys on weekend trips to Arizona was arrested Wednesday on molestation charges. Police said they were first told two years ago that a man was abusing boys in the Ocean Beach area. But it was only two months ago that one of the young victims accused Ron J. Steckbauer, 34, owner of the popular Hyperspace Arcade on Newport Avenue, a block from the beach.

Campbell Hugh Greenup, former owner of a private elementary school in Northridge, was found innocent Monday of charges he molested one girl, and the judge ordered the jury to resume deliberations today on the remaining charges concerning seven other children. After eight days of deliberations, panel members found Greenup, 58, not guilty of two of 21 counts of lewd conduct with a child under age 14.

A Lancaster man who photographed himself molesting a 2-year-old girl was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in state prison. Thomas Cook, 33, who was arrested after authorities identified him through the photographs, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of conducting a lewd act on a child involving the 2-year-old and another young victim, Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Rhodes said. "What you have is a memorializing of the crime" on film, Rhodes said.

A 25-year-old Oceanside man pleaded guilty Tuesday in Vista Superior Court to two counts of sexually molesting a 6-year-old girl. Douglas Dannat originally had been charged with eight counts ranging from kidnaping to failing to register as a sex offender with Oceanside police. A Vista girl was abducted from her front yard on Dec. 15 and taken to a remote area, prosecutors said, where Dannat molested her. Dannat could receive 15 to 21 years in prison, public defender Barbara McDonald said.

A South-Central Los Angeles elementary school teacher, already facing multiple misdemeanor counts of child molestation, was charged Monday with 21 felonies, including sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old. In the new case, Don Ray Moore, 53, of Redondo Beach is accused of fondling four female sixth-graders at the 97th Street School between 1981 and 1984 and having sex with one of them at his home after she had graduated, Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas P. Higgins said.

Former Fountain Valley School District teacher Jeffrey Atkinson was declared "factually innocent" by Superior Court Judge Dennis S. Choate of charges that he molested girls in his third-grade class. Atkinson was acquitted of the charges last month by an Orange County jury, but the new ruling by Choate means that all records of the ruling will be cleared from his file.

A former chaplain and reserve deputy with the Alameda County sheriff's office pleaded no contest to one count of repeatedly molesting a child and agreed as part of a plea bargain to spend 16 years in prison. Daniel Coryell, 51, of San Leandro told his victims that God and their families would be angry if they told anyone what he did to them, according to Alameda County Superior court files. Coryell was charged with molesting three teenage boys from 1983 through 2000.