Lawyer Acquitted of Charges in Sexual Exploitation Case

A criminal defense attorney has been acquitted of charges he conspired to sexually exploit minors through the use of nude photographs that girls sent to him and his client.

Ben Sanchez Jr., 49, was found innocent Friday of 12 counts of conspiracy, sexual exploitation of minors, distributing nude photos of a minor and mail fraud.

His attorney, Gene Iredale, said Tuesday the government filed charges against him because he was a criminal defense attorney.

“The only reason he was prosecuted was because he was a lawyer. (Lawyers) don’t deserve special privileges, but they don’t deserve persecution either,” said Iredale.

Iredale said Sanchez was suspended by Defenders Services where he worked when he was indicted last July and his law practice is destroyed.

“The jurors felt the government had no case,” said Iredale.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Weber said Tuesday she didn’t want to dignify Iredale’s charges by responding to them.

As to the verdict, she said: “We’re disappointed. That’s the jury system . . . and we have to abide by it.”

U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson denied a defense motion last week to dismiss the case after the prosecution had rested its case.

Today further motions on behalf of a co-defendant, Mark Winston, 30, will be heard. Sanchez was granted a separate trial from Winston.

Winston masterminded the scheme from his jail cell, said Iredale, where he was awaiting trial on a narcotics case last year.

Winston had a private telephone in his jail cell and allegedly placed ads in newspapers soliciting persons regarding modeling assignments.