Testimony Disputed in Trial of Moses

The defense attempted to show conflicting testimony by police officers Wednesday as the prosecution rested its prostitution solicitation case against Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses.

Testimony by Los Angeles police Sgt. George Haines, who headed a Hollywood task force in which Moses was arrested for allegedly offering $100 for two sex acts, did not agree with some of Tuesday’s testimony by the female undercover officer who had talked with Moses.

Haines said he had not heard LAPD officer Susan Gonzales, involved in her first and only vice operation, repeat Moses’ request for oral sex and sexual intercourse. Haines had been listening in a nearby building to her conversation, which was transmitted through a microphone on her purse.

Haines, however, said that his responsibilities were to oversee the operation and not monitor specific conversations. LAPD officer Kent Ridenour, who was assigned to write down Gonzales’ conversations with possible violators, testified Tuesday that he had heard the undercover officer’s repeat request, a standard vice operation practice.

Gonzales, a patrol officer who was on loan to Hollywood vice Jan. 13, when Moses was arrested, testified Tuesday that she had repeated Moses’ specific requests, in street language, for two sex acts.

Haines said that he had heard Moses’ initial request but not a repeat statement.

“I’m not wrong on that,” he said. “That was one area as a supervisor . . . I’d be keyed on it. That was not said by officer Gonzales. My memory on that point is very good.”

When defense attorney Edward Medvene suggested that Gonzales might have initiated the conversation with Moses, Haines replied: “If that was what she had said under oath, then Mr. Moses would not be here today because I would not have deployed the arrest team.”

Haines also said that Gonzales had not paced along the southwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Genesee Avenue. Gonzales had said Tuesday that she paced three times before talking with Moses. Haines said that he viewed the alleged violation from a nearby vacant house that was used as a police command post.

“The female operators do not pace back and forth,” Haines said. “We don’t have them parade up and down the street. Some movement is OK. We don’t have them stand at attention.”

Haines, one of four LAPD officers testifying against Moses, told Dep. City Atty. Michael J. Gaurino that he specifically remembered the solicitation because it was quick and direct. He also said the $100 allegedly offered was the largest amount of the evening, during which 35 were arrested.

An arresting officer, Ken Crawford, later said he had found about $600 in Moses’ wallet, including three $100 bills and four $50 bills.

Moses, 29, of Laguna Hills, has pleaded innocent to the charge. If convicted of the misdemeanor offense, he faces a maximum penalty of six months in Los Angeles County Jail and a $1,000 fine.

Moses’ attorneys maintain that he is a victim of entrapment. They are attempting to show the jury that Moses had no intention of buying sex.

Wednesday, Medvene asked Crawford why the officer had not arrested Moses after the alleged crime occurred. Crawford said that it is standard procedure for the chase officers to allow the violator to leave the area of the operation before making the arrest. They do this, he said, to allow the operation to continue without disruption.

Crawford said he followed Moses, who turned right from Genesee to Sunset and then right again a block later, on Spaulding Street, before making the arrest.

“Did he have a chance to stop on Sunset?” Medvene asked the officer.

“Yes,” Crawford said.

The defense claims that Moses did not plan to stop, even though Gonzales had told him to meet her around the corner.

Attorney Richard Mosk, a member of a four-person defense team, called three witnesses to testify, including two purported experts in electronic surveillance devices such as those used in the Hollywood vice operation Jan. 13.

They testified that conversations from a portable microphone are not always easy to decipher. Two police officers, however, had testified that they heard the conversation between Moses and Gonzales clearly.

The defense also showed the jury a videotape of the route Moses took from the intersection at Sunset and Genesee to Spaulding.

Moses, who won gold medals in the 1976 and 1984 Olympic 400-meter hurdles, is expected to testify today when the trial resumes at 10 a.m.