Long Beach, P.C. 288(a) Charge, Victim 12, Client 16

On one afternoon in early 2021, our client was at home in his room, studying. 

His younger sister had a friend over and the two were playing hide and go seek inside the home.  Our client heard his sister’s friend come into his room, looking for a place to hide.

Our client suggested she hide in the closet with him and she agreed.  Once in the closet, our client allegedly began touching the twelve year-old’s rear end and rubbing her groin area.  The twelve year-old allegedly told our client to stop touching her, but our client ignored her.

According to the young girl’s mom, our client asked her daughter if she “gets wet” as he touched her groin area. 

All touching was over the clothing worn by the young girl.  There was no skin-to-skin contact.  From the police report, it was unclear how the incident ended.

A few days later, the young girl told her mom, a single mom, about the incident and the girl’s mom contacted our client’s mom to let her know her daughter was quite upset about what had happened.

According to the victim’s mom, our client’s mom minimized the conduct of her son and made disrespectful comments about the victim’s credibility.  This upset the victim’s mom, who then immediately contacted the Long Beach Police Department.

The Long Beach Police Department then contacted our client and asked him if what the victim’s mom said was true.  Our client admitted to the conduct, adding, “I knew it was wrong.  I am sorry.”  He also mentioned to police that he might have a “pornography addiction.”

The police then discussed the incident with our client’s parents, who were respectful and immediately enrolled our client in a six-month behavioral therapy program in the Long Beach area.

When the program ended, the family moved to Virgina due to our client’s father finding a better job there. 

Nearly two and a half years after the incident, our client was notified by his employer (a pizza place) that there was a bench warrant for him out of the Long Beach Superior Court.  The client discussed this with his parents, who then contacted Greg Hill.  The parents suspected that the bench warrant arose from their son’s “closet incident” and described it to Greg.

Greg then went to the Long Beach Courthouse and was able to find out that a juvenile petition had been filed nearly two years earlier against our client for a violation of Penal Code § 288(a), “Lewd Acts with a Minor under Age 14.”

Greg then discussed the case with the supervising District Attorney responsible for juvenile petitions and whether he would oppose Greg appearing on the client’s behalf under Penal Code § 977(b) to have the bench warrant recalled without the client having to fly out from Virginia to California to be arraigned.  The supervising prosecutor agreed to this, which was not only kind, but a recognition, he said, that perhaps the conduct was more misdemeanor than felony in nature.  The family then retained Greg.

Greg then explained to the client and his parents the good luck he had in speaking with the supervising prosecutor and his agreement to permit our client’s appearance in court through Greg only.

This agreement, it should be noted, meant little without the judge’s cooperation to allow such an appearance and then allow the case to proceed remotely through WebEx, a program similar to Zoom, that permitted video appearances by counsel and clients.

Luckily, the judge agreed to allow such an appearance by Greg on the client’s behalf, too.  Greg then appeared and the judge recalled the bench warrant, which helped our client keep his job.

Over the next months, Greg negotiated with the handling district attorney, eventually negotiating an amendment of the complaint to allege a misdemeanor violation of Penal Code § 288(c)(1), wherein our client would not have to register as a sex offender and he would be required to attend 52 sexual compulsiveness therapy sessions for one year of home on probation (HOP).  Such therapy sessions were approved to be online, which was a huge relief to our client, now 19 years old.  The client would also be responsible for any restitution sought by the victim for expenses caused by the incident.