Child Molester in Protective Custody After Suicide Attempt

A 69-year-old Chatsworth man who attempted suicide on the eve of his scheduled sentencing for child molestation was ordered placed under protective custody Tuesday after a judge revoked his bail.

Alfred W. Bayley, who was castrated 39 years ago as punishment for a previous child molestation, is facing up to 18 years in jail for molesting several San Fernando Valley children while he was baby-sitting them.

Bayley, who pleaded guilty April 2 to three molestation counts, was to have been sentenced Tuesday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael A. Tynan.

But Bayley “became extremely depressed and fearful” late Monday and took a drug overdose, said his attorney, Bruce M. Gleason.

Taken to Hospital

Bayley, who is retired as an electrician from the Los Angeles Department of Airports, was taken to Olive View Mid-Valley Hospital in Van Nuys, where he spent the night in the intensive-care unit, Gleason said.

Tynan, after ordering that Bayley be taken from Olive View to the County-USC jail ward, rescheduled sentencing for next Tuesday.

In an interview, Gleason described his client as a “classic case that proves that castration does not work as a means of halting sexual drive.”

In 1946, Bayley chose castration--the surgical removal of the testicles--in lieu of jail after pleading guilty to child molestation in Pasadena Superior Court, Gleason said.

Castration Later Rejected

At the time, castration was thought by some to eliminate sex drive and, in the case of a child molester, to eliminate the sexual craving for children.

Court-ordered castration was “gradually discredited and used less and less” until it was rejected as cruel and unusual punishment, Gleason said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen Weist said castration is “nothing more than the ultimate in sterilization. It has no effect on sex drive, as Mr. Bayley’s case proves.” She declined to disclose what sentence she would urge the court to impose, except to say it “will be somewhere between 6 and 18 years in prison.”

Weist said she would not be influenced by Bayley’s castration in her sentencing recommendation.

Gleason said he is hoping for a prison term of 10 to 12 years, adding, “There is no doubt that a prison sentence is going to be imposed here.”

Gleason said that, after being castrated, Bayley led an “exemplary life, including raising three fine sons.” He said that Bayley was married to the same woman from 1940 to 1977, when they were divorced.

“The man is a paradox,” Gleason said. “On the one hand, he is a fine gentleman and a law-abiding citizen. And, on the other hand, he has this terrible problem with deviant urges.”

Bayley was charged Feb. 8 with molesting three Valley girls, ages 4, 7 and 8. He met his victims by responding to newspaper ads for baby sitters, police said.