Wilkening Enters 2 Guilty Pleas in Sex Case

Rather than face what her lawyer called “overwhelming evidence,” Karen Wilkening pleaded guilty Friday to two felony counts in connection with what prosecutors have called a high-class San Diego call-girl ring.

In exchange for the pleas to one charge of pandering and one of conspiracy to obstruct justice, which a tearful Wilkening entered before San Diego Superior Court Judge Andrew Wagner, prosecutors agreed to drop 19 counts. They included pimping and pandering as well as failure to appear in court.

Wilkening, who was returned to San Diego from the Philippines in May, could be sentenced to as few as three years or as many as six years, eight months in prison as well as a $10,000 fine. Sentencing was tentatively scheduled for Nov. 10.

$4-Million Bail

Wilkening, 43, was returned after Friday’s hearing to the County Jail at Las Colinas on $4-million bail, said her attorney, Steven Carroll, a deputy public defender.

“She’s glad to have this part of it over,” Carroll said, noting that Wilkening originally faced a maximum 13-year prison sentence.

“We had a lot of time to go over the evidence of the preliminary hearing transcripts,” Carroll said. “We realized the evidence they had against her was fairly overwhelming, and it was not in our best interests to take the matter to trial.”

At her sentencing hearing, Wilkening intends to present pleas for leniency from “people who knew her in capacities other than those that relate to the charges,” Carroll said. “I don’t expect to get letters from clients.”

Solicited Policewoman

Wilkening pleaded guilty Friday to soliciting an undercover policewoman to act as a prostitute in an escort service she was operating in May, 1987.

She also pleaded guilty to a charge that between Sept. 8, 1987, and May 8 of this year, she conspired with her former attorney, Buford Wiley, to obstruct justice. She said she agreed to flee the United States to avoid prosecution in the pimping and pandering cases.

Wiley could not be reached Friday for comment. His attorney, Michael Lipman of San Diego, said, “It’s clear that Ms. Wilkening went to the Philippines and . . . as I understand it at least, she said in court that she agreed and conspired with her lawyer, before she fled, to assist her flight somehow to the Philippines. And that’s just not accurate.”

“I think the time for everyone to prove their case is in court, not in the papers,” Lipman said. “Wiley denies those allegations, and we’ll vigorously defend the case in court.”

Lawyer Faces Trial

Wiley, 46, who is free on bail, faces trial Oct. 16 on four charges related to Wilkening’s flight, including conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Wilkening’s guilty plea to the conspiracy charge has no legal effect on the same charge against Wiley, Carroll said. The lawyer said he could not comment about whether Wilkening will testify against Wiley.

Wilkening had disappeared in September, 1987, while facing a preliminary hearing on charges that she operated a call-girl service out of a Linda Vista condominium.

She was located in the Philippines and brought back this May by agents of the San Diego Metropolitan Homicide Task Force investigating a series of prostitute killings. Nearly $20,000 was spent in returning her to San Diego.

Declined Comment

Steven J. Casey, special assistant to Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller, declined Friday to say whether Wilkening will be questioned about the killings, saying he could not talk about the investigation because it was still going on.

Carroll also declined to comment on whether his client will be questioned, saying the district attorney’s office had asked him to keep quiet.

Prosecutors said in May that Wilkening is not considered a suspect in the homicides but was wanted for questioning because of her familiarity with the prostitution business in San Diego. Officers are investigating the slayings of about 40 women whose life styles included prostitution and drug activity.

During Wilkening’s preliminary examinations this spring, prominent businessmen, including auto dealer Tony McCune, testified that they had sex with women she supplied.

Rolodex File

Reports of a Rolodex card file surfaced during the hearings, raising questions about whose names were on it. Authorities have said Wilkening’s call-girl ring catered to wealthy and important area men.

Though there were allegations that the Rolodex had been “sanitized” to protect high-profile customers, Carroll said Friday he was “satisfied basically that there are no missing names.” He said, however, that he cannot discuss the list further because of a court order keeping confidential evidence that has not been presented in court.

Wilkening has been quoted as saying information in the Rolodex could “ruin people’s reputations and lives.”

“I think what she’s talking about there are that there are a lot of personal friends and true business associates that have nothing to do with any escort or dancing services she provided,” Carroll said. “To simply have the Rolodex revealed, people would be falsely revealed as being clients who are not.”