Sexual Contact

Brian Banks logged onto Facebook last year, and a new friend request startled him. It was the woman who, nearly a decade ago, accused him of rape when they were both students at Long Beach Poly High School. Banks had served five years in prison for the alleged rape, and now he was unemployed and weary. So he replied to Wanetta Gibson with a question: Would she meet with him and a private investigator? She agreed. At the meeting, which was secretly recorded, Gibson said she had lied.

HOUSTON -- A jury at San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base on Wednesday found a boot camp instructor not guilty of having unwanted sexual contact with a recruit under his command, officials said. The jury's decision after nearly five hours of deliberations was a victory for Staff Sgt. Kwinton Estacio, who defense attorneys had argued during the three-day court-martial had consensual sex with his alleged victim, a trainee identified only as Airman 1. On Tuesday, the charge had been reduced from sexual assault to unwanted sexual contact.

Two Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies were reassigned over the weekend after an inmate alleged she had sexual contact with one of them, department officials said Monday. The deputies are with the department's transportation detail, which takes inmates by bus between jail and court. The inmate said she had sexual contact with one of the deputies while the other deputy was nearby. Commander James Hellmold said the probe was being handled by internal sheriff's criminal investigators.

HOUSTON -- The latest development in the unfolding sex scandal at San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base: An instructor was acquitted of sexually assaulting a boot camp graduate and now awaits a verdict on a lesser charge, a military spokesman said. A military judge ruled Tuesday that military prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to support the original sexual assault charge, and the charge against the instructor, Staff Sgt. Kwinton Estacio, was reduced to one of wrongful sexual contact, according to Lackland spokesman Brent Boller.

A longtime Arkansas friend of President Clinton withdrew his name from consideration as secretary of Veterans Affairs on Friday when it became clear that Senate hearings would look into a charge that he had made unwanted sexual advances while serving as the agency's deputy secretary. Questions also were raised about a department inquiry into the matter. Hershel W. Gober, 60, a Vietnam War veteran, will remain as deputy secretary, according to a letter he wrote to the president.

A federal judge accused of fondling a former court employee was indicted by a federal grand jury on sexual abuse charges. U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent is charged with two counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of attempted aggravated sexual abuse. A former case manager at the U.S. District Court in Galveston accused Kent of twice touching her under her clothing and repeatedly making obscene suggestions during the six years she worked with him. Kent's attorney called any sexual contact that may have happened consensual.

A 28-year-old Leningrad woman diagnosed as a carrier of the AIDS virus was released from a hospital today after signing a pledge to have no sexual contact for five years, the official Soviet press agency Tass reported. It said her undertaking to forswear sex was in accordance with a decree adopted in August. If she fails to keep to her pledge, she faces up to eight years in prison.

HOUSTON -- A jury at San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base on Wednesday found a boot camp instructor not guilty of having unwanted sexual contact with a recruit under his command, officials said. The jury's decision after nearly five hours of deliberations was a victory for Staff Sgt. Kwinton Estacio, who defense attorneys had argued during the three-day court-martial had consensual sex with his alleged victim, a trainee identified only as Airman 1. On Tuesday, the charge had been reduced from sexual assault to unwanted sexual contact.

A Hollywood manager who specializes in representing young actors has been arrested on suspicion of molesting one of his clients, and police suspect there may be other possible victims. Police arrested Martin Weiss on Tuesday on suspicion of committing lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, said Det. John Alviani, coordinator for the sexual assault unit of the Los Angeles Police Department's Topanga Division. Detectives executed search warrants in Santa Monica, where the 47-year-old Weiss lives and runs his business, Alviani said.

HOUSTON -- The latest development in the unfolding sex scandal at San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base: An instructor was acquitted of sexually assaulting a boot camp graduate and now awaits a verdict on a lesser charge, a military spokesman said. A military judge ruled Tuesday that military prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to support the original sexual assault charge, and the charge against the instructor, Staff Sgt. Kwinton Estacio, was reduced to one of wrongful sexual contact, according to Lackland spokesman Brent Boller.

Sexual contact between a prison guard and an inmate should be presumed to be coercive, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a claim by an Idaho prison inmate who said a female guard groped him sexually after he tried to break off a romantic, but nonsexual, relationship with her. A district court had ruled that two incidents in which the guard allegedly touched the prisoner's...

Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP's candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, caused a huge stir the other day with his comments about how women who are true rape victims rarely get pregnant. "If it's a legitimate rape," he said, "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. " In a piece that was typical of the widespread outrage the remarks stirred, the Atlantic magazine called them the "contemporary equivalent of the early American belief that only witches float. " The writer was onto something important.

Brian Banks logged onto Facebook last year, and a new friend request startled him. It was the woman who, nearly a decade ago, accused him of rape when they were both students at Long Beach Poly High School. Banks had served five years in prison for the alleged rape, and now he was unemployed and weary. So he replied to Wanetta Gibson with a question: Would she meet with him and a private investigator? She agreed. At the meeting, which was secretly recorded, Gibson said she had lied.

A veteran children's talent manager pleaded not guilty Thursday to sexually abusing a former client as police sought the public's help in investigating whether he victimized other aspiring young performers. Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Martin Weiss, 47, of Santa Monica with eight felonies stemming from his alleged abuse of a boy who was trying to break into the music industry. The alleged victim, now 18, told police last month that Weiss molested him from age 11 to 15. The alleged victim came forward because he was concerned his former manager might be abusing others, police said, and provided officers a recording of a recent conversation in which Weiss acknowledged the sexual contact.

A Hollywood manager who specializes in representing young actors has been arrested on suspicion of molesting one of his clients, and police suspect there may be other possible victims. Police arrested Martin Weiss on Tuesday on suspicion of committing lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, said Det. John Alviani, coordinator for the sexual assault unit of the Los Angeles Police Department's Topanga Division. Detectives executed search warrants in Santa Monica, where the 47-year-old Weiss lives and runs his business, Alviani said.

Two Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies were reassigned over the weekend after an inmate alleged she had sexual contact with one of them, department officials said Monday. The deputies are with the department's transportation detail, which takes inmates by bus between jail and court. The inmate said she had sexual contact with one of the deputies while the other deputy was nearby. Commander James Hellmold said the probe was being handled by internal sheriff's criminal investigators.

A Santa Monica man was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for sending child pornography through the mails. U.S. District Judge Harry Hupp said he would not "ordinarily" imprison a person for such an offense, but made an exception in the case of 57-year-old H. Keith Simpson because of the need to "protect children."

Your recent article about Dr. Jerome Evans losing his license after having sex with his patient prompts me to inform your readers that the state of California has published a booklet, "Professional Therapy Never Includes Sex." This pamphlet can be obtained by writing the Department of Consumer Affairs, 1020 N St., Sacramento 95814, or by calling the Board of Psychology at (916) 263-2695. Sexual contact between therapist and patient is now a crime in this and many other states. Quoting from the above booklet, the "law applies to two kinds of situations: the therapist has sexual contact with a client during therapy, or the therapist ends therapy to start having sexual contact with the client."

Atlanta-based megachurch leader Bishop Eddie Long and four men who accused him of sexual misconduct have settled out of court, spokesmen for both sides said Thursday. The men had alleged that the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church coerced them into sexual relations with gifts including cars, cash and travel when they were 17. One suit also claimed Long had sexual contact with one of them during trips he took them on in the U.S. and abroad. Long denied the allegations, and federal and state authorities didn't investigate because Georgia's age of consent is 16. Eight months ago, when the allegations surfaced, Long told his a 25,000 member congregation in Lithonia, Georgia, that he would fight the accusations against him. Both sides declined to discuss terms of the deal, other than to say the civil suits in state court would not go forward.

Wade Sanders, a decorated Vietnam veteran and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy in the Clinton administration, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to possession of child pornography. Sanders, 67, of San Diego, had more than 600 images of child pornography on his computer, including a 21-minute video showing "pre-pubescent females" having sexual contact with an adult male, the U.S. attorney's office said Sanders, a lawyer, is a retired Navy captain who received the Bronze Star, Silver Star and Purple Heart for service as a swift-boat captain in the Vietnam War. He faces a possible 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine when sentenced March 30. Under a plea bargain, prosecutors have agreed to recommend a prison sentence of five to six years.