Charges Dropped Against 4 Suspected of Sex Crimes

Child molestation charges were dropped against former Orange County Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline and three other suspected Southern California molesters Wednesday, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars prosecution of old sex cases.

A San Bernardino judge also ordered the release of a man who recently began serving a sentence for a molestation in the ‘80s.

One week after Supreme Court justices found a California law unconstitutional because it waived the statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel Solis Pratt dismissed five felony charges against Kline. They stemmed from an incident in which Kline allegedly molested a 14-year-old boy in 1979. Authorities charged Kline after a computer hacker obtained a copy of his diary and forwarded it to police.

Kline’s molestation case is one of hundreds statewide that exceed a six-year statute of limitations on molestation and may be abandoned as a result of the high court’s ruling. The California attorney general has directed prosecutors across the state to re-examine cases that may be affected by the ruling and estimates that as many as 800 cases may need to be reviewed.

“It’s a very difficult process to identify people who were prosecuted under this statute,” said Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office. “We’re still trying to figure out how many cases we have here.”

Charges were dropped against Kline, who would have faced up to six years in prison if convicted, after defense attorney Paul S. Meyer filed a motion to dismiss them. Saying she had no other choice, Deputy Dist. Atty. Sheila Hanson declined to oppose the motion.

“I’m disappointed that the victim and the public have lost their chance to seek justice for the abuse that occurred,” Hanson said. “But the United States Supreme Court has ruled, and as a result Mr. Kline cannot be prosecuted for these offenses.”

After Wednesday’s hearing, Kline’s lawyer said he would have expected the same outcome had the case gone to trial.

“We plead not guilty from Day One,” Meyer said. “In all of the hoopla about the Supreme Court, let’s not forget the presumption of innocence. I am confident Judge Kline would have been acquitted in trial.”

The dismissal of the state charges is the second dose of good news for Kline in three weeks. It comes after a federal judge’s decision to throw out most of the key evidence in a separate child pornography case against him.

Two years after Kline’s arrest and his decision to give up his bid for another term on the Orange County bench, the cases against him have been greatly reduced.

Kline, 64, once faced a combination of state and federal felonies and misdemeanors. Now, unless the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals restores crucial evidence in the federal case, the former judge faces a single federal count of possession of child pornography, a felony that carries a maximum of five years in prison.

In addition to the dismissal of Kline’s case Wednesday, authorities in Orange and Los Angeles counties announced the dismissal of charges against two former priests and an ex-teacher.

Orange County prosecutors reported that charges have been dismissed against two abuse suspects: Carl Bucy, a Huntington Beach middle school teacher accused of molesting a female student in the early 1970s, and Gerald John Plesetz, a former priest accused of impregnating a 14-year-old girl who allegedly gave birth to his child almost 30 years ago.

In Los Angeles County, John Anthony Salazar became the first former priest in the county to have molestation charges dismissed against him. Salazar was charged with molesting a student at St. Bernard High School in Playa del Rey and an altar boy at Santa Teresita Church in Los Angeles more than 20 years ago. Prosecutors said the cases against nine other priests will probably be dismissed as well.

“As Mr. [Dist. Atty. Steve] Cooley said before, it looks like all those are going to be dismissed,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Irene Wakabayashi, assistant head deputy of the sex-crimes division.

Though priests only account for a small fraction of the more than 200 cases throughout L.A. County thought to be affected by the ruling, they are the only cases so far that authorities have been able to identify outright.

The priests’ cases are easy to identify, said Jane Robison, spokesperson for the L.A. County district attorney’s office. “They are the only pending cases we have right now.”

Also Wednesday, in San Bernardino County Superior Court, a judge ordered a 60-year-old man released from jail, where he recently began serving a six-year sentence for molesting a female minor in his family between 1980 and 1984. A jury convicted Eli Mellor in January.

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Times staff writers Lance Pugmire and Monte Morin contributed to this report.