Indecent exposure charges dismissed in case of former Laguna rug store manager

Two charges of indecent exposure against a former Laguna Beach rug store manager accused of multiple sex crimes against women will be dismissed, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Friday in a Santa Ana courtroom.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Costello requested Judge John Conley drop both felony charges of indecent exposure with a prior conviction against Saeid Boustanabadi Maralan, who at one time managed the now-shuttered Sirous & Sons Rug Gallery at 222 Ocean Ave.

“My understanding is the paperwork was very confusing as to whether he had suffered a prior conviction,” Costello said in an interview outside the courtroom.

Costello is filling in for Deputy District Atty. Michael Carroll, the lead prosecutor on the case.

Maralan’s attorney, John Barnett, had challenged the validity of a 2000 conviction of indecent exposure against Maralan, 59, handed down by a Los Angeles County jury.

Barnett claimed in O.C. Superior Court documents that L.A. County Superior Court records didn’t specify the acts for which Maralan was convicted, the Daily Pilot reported earlier this month.

Conley ruled in May that the records were “cryptic” and “ambiguous” and did not meet standards of the evidence code, according to O.C. Superior Court filings.

For example, the L.A. County jury found Maralan guilty of two unidentified offenses, according to a copy of Barnett’s motion filed in April.

The prior conviction had elevated the counts of indecent exposure in the Orange County case to felonies.

Maralan still faces seven felony charges, including rape, sexual penetration by a foreign object, and attempted oral copulation, according to the O.C. Superior Court website. Those charges stem from incidents from 2007 to 2011.

bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce