Attorney Held on Rape Case Bribery Charge

A Santa Monica attorney has been arrested and charged with extracting $40,000 from a rape defendant in exchange for her client, the alleged rape victim, not testifying at his trial.

Wilhemina M. Condon, 30, was charged with compounding a felony, conspiracy to obstruct justice and bribing a witness. An arraignment date on the three felonies, each of which calls for a maximum prison term of three years, is pending, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Allegedly Made Offer

Condon, authorities said, contacted Esmail Enayat, a Santa Monica gas station operator, following a preliminary hearing in which the Iranian immigrant was ordered to stand trial on a rape charge. Condon allegedly told Enayat, who could face an eight-year prison term if convicted, that she represented the alleged rape victim and that in exchange for $75,000, the woman would not be available as a witness against him at his trial.

Enayat notified Santa Monica police, who had him wear a recording device at subsequent conversations with Condon, during which the proposed payoff was reduced to $40,000. Condon was arrested minutes after Enayat handed two checks totaling $40,000 to the lawyer, authorities said.

Mike Carroll, Santa Monica head deputy district attorney, said his office hopes to locate and re-interview the alleged rape victim, described as a young German woman, because she is a potential suspect in the “shake-down” case.

“Let’s put it this way,” Carroll explained. “If the lawyer truly was getting the money for the rape victim, which she was going to share, the rape victim was a party to it.”

Perplexing Situation

“You cannot accept money to buy silence in a felony criminal matter,” he added, noting that the allegations in the bribery case places his office in a perplexing situation.

If the alleged victim was involved in any crime, Carroll acknowledged, “we have a problem of credibility with our witness.”

Enayat allegedly raped the woman in his motor home after he met her at his gas station in October, 1986. The woman said Enayat had taken her into the vehicle after promising to find her transportation from the gas station that night.