Expanded Use of Pandering Law : 2 Held in Raids Aimed at Makers of Sex Film

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday raided a modeling agency in Sherman Oaks and homes in Thousand Oaks and Malibu in an effort to arrest the producers of a sex film for pandering.

Only two of the five men sought for their part in production of “Backside to the Future” were arrested during simultaneous raids in California, Texas, Miami and Rochester, N.Y., sheriff’s officials said.

The raids, ending a four-month investigation, represented an expanded use of California’s 1982 pandering statute against people who make sex films. The law prohibits the payment of money to people to engage in sex acts, and police previously have used it to arrest producers, directors and others as actors and actresses were being recruited or performing.

In this case, however, the arrests were made well after the film’s distribution last year, Deputy Drew Basey said.

“It’s unique,” he said. “We’re working backwards from the finished product.”

The raid at the World Modeling Agency resulted in the arrest of James Souter, 47, of Thousand Oaks, who also was arrested in October by Los Angeles police on felony pandering charges. Souter’s agency, in the 4500 block of Van Nuys Boulevard, was described by investigators at the time as a clearinghouse for performers in pornographic films.

Also arrested was Milton Ingley, 40, in Arlington, Tex. Authorities still are seeking John Lee, 43, of Malibu, and brothers Charles Zicari, 36, and Dominic Zicari, 47, both of Rochester.

Authorities did not detail the alleged involvement of each man in the production of the film, but said it was filmed last year in Lee’s Malibu home. Performers in the film, which is sold for home video use, are not being sought, Basey said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Kuhnert said the raids were facilitated by an appellate court decision last month upholding the state’s right to prosecute film makers for pandering, a charge usually used against pimps.