Pandering Charges : Girl Is Missing Element in Case Against Mother

A North Hollywood woman who is accused of forcing her 16-year-old daughter into prostitution may be placed in the unusual position of having to produce evidence against herself.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth Freeman had asked Van Nuys Municipal Judge Robert Wallerstein to order Cheri Barbara Woods, 36, to bring her daughter, Regina, to court to testify against her.

Freeman claimed that Woods, who is the girl’s legal guardian, has hidden her in a Midwestern state in an effort to thwart the prosecution. Without a victim, Freeman said, the prosecution would be forced to drop the charges.

Freeman argued that a suspect should not be allowed to escape culpability by shielding evidence from the court.

However, Woods’ attorney, Peter L. Knecht, said his client does not know her daughter’s whereabouts and should not be ordered to perform investigative work to locate her.

‘Clinging by Shoestring’

“The police want her to go out on the street and find evidence against her,” Knecht said. “They’re clinging onto this prosecution by a shoestring.”

The hearing to determine whether Woods should produce her daughter was to have been held Monday. However, the hearing was postponed until Oct. 11 because Woods, who was bedridden after giving birth prematurely, was unable to appear in court.

Her attorney requested that the court adjourn to Woods’ home and conduct the hearing at her bedside, but Wallerstein said that the circumstances did not warrant a house call.

The pimping and pandering charges against Woods had caused her such emotional distress that she went into labor Thursday and delivered a girl by Caesarean section three months’ prematurely, Knecht said, adding that the baby weighed only 1 pound, 13 ounces.

“She wants a bedside hearing today,” Knecht told the court. “She wants to get this grief over with. It’s not that inconvenient for the court. Her home is only 10 minutes away.”

Daughter’s Allegation

Regina told Los Angeles police in January that her mother had forced her to become a prostitute, court records show.

She said that her mother operated an out-call prostitution ring called “Cheri’s Angels,” which masqueraded as an escort service and employed more than 185 prostitutes, according to an affidavit filed to support a request for a search warrant.

Regina said that she began working for the prostitution service as a telephone operator but was asked by her mother in November to have sex with clients, police and court records show.

Regina said that she worked as a prostitute for four weeks and went on more than 50 calls. The typical fee was $200 an hour, which she split with her mother, the affidavit says.

On one occasion, Regina told police, she and her mother answered a call together.

After filing the report with police, Regina was placed in protective custody at MacLaren Children’s Center, but she ran away in late January, Freeman said.

Taped Interview

Three weeks ago, court records show, Woods called police to report that she had been the victim of a crime, the nature of which was not disclosed. In a taped interview with officers investigating that crime, Woods allegedly indicated that she knew where her daughter is living.

Prosecutor Freeman also told the court that, during a search of Woods’ home, police recovered a letter written to Woods by a friend that indicated that Woods had been communicating with her daughter.

Defense attorney Knecht denied that Woods knows where her daughter is living and said that the teen-ager had fabricated the allegations against her mother. He produced a letter allegedly sent by Regina to a third party that states: “Everything I said to the detectives I made up. I lied about every single thing I said. My mother was to strict for the kind of lifestyle I wanted to live, see, I lied about her, thinking I would have more freedom.”

In another case, Woods is charged with serving as a pimp for four suspected prostitutes and two undercover police officers. During a search of her home, police officers recovered client books and payment records dating from 1984, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond, who is prosecuting that case.