Rape Case Raises Privacy Issue : Media: Attorney Gloria Allred blasts the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for releasing the name of a 14-year-old victim for broadcast on a TV show.

The debate over whether rape victims should be publicly identified escalated Friday as feminist attorney Gloria Allred accused the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department of invading the privacy of a 14-year-old rape victim by providing her first name for broadcast in the television program “Cops.”

At a Los Angeles news conference, the girl, her father and Allred said they hoped publicity about the case would lead to stronger laws respecting the privacy of sexual assault victims. The girl’s experience, Allred said, illustrates that the decision to reveal a rape victim’s identity “should be a matter of choice for the woman.”

The controversy comes amid heightened discussion over whether women should speak out to remove the stigma associated with rape and the policies of the news media and law enforcement agencies concerning the identification of such victims. The controversy has been fanned by recent decisions by NBC News and the New York Times to identify the woman who has charged that she was raped by William Kennedy Smith, a nephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, at the Kennedy family’s Palm Beach, Fla., vacation home.

Describing the naming of the 14-year-old on the television program as “a shocking invasion of privacy,” Allred blamed law enforcement officials for permitting Fox Broadcasting Co. to use the girl’s unusual first name, and Fox for not deleting it in the “Cops” broadcast last Saturday.

“We believe that law enforcement should not release the names of rape survivors to the press, because . . . it will discourage rape survivors from filing such charges in the future,” Allred said.

Capt. Sue Hansen of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, commander of the station that polices Moreno Valley, said the release of the girl’s name was an accidental violation of a department policy not to reveal the names of sex crime victims, regardless of their age.

Fox spokeswoman Andie Sporkin said the network would not comment because of potential litigation.

During a news conference in Allred’s Wilshire Boulevard office, the girl, wearing tinted glasses, appeared with her father before several television cameras and photographers, giving permission for the girl to be photographed and to appear on television. They declined to reveal their names. The girl’s father said his daughter’s first name is so unusual that it is unique within her school district.

The show--which also stated the girl’s age and revealed her hometown via an investigator’s uniform patch--was aired last Saturday. In the days since, the girl said, she was verbally harassed and “pushed around” by some classmates. The treatment prompted her parents to temporarily remove her from school.

“I was very embarrassed to find out that many students in my school were talking about me and it upset me to hear the things they were saying about me, many of which were lies,” the Moreno Valley High School student said in a prepared statement. “If I had known my name would be given out, I would never have spoken to the police about what happened to me.”

Later, answering reporters’ questions, she added: “Now when I go out, if I mention my name, it’s ‘Oh, you were the girl on ‘Cops.’ I just don’t want to be known as the girl on ‘Cops.’ ”

“The damage has been done,” her father said. “This is damage control.”

“We’re here today because we’re attempting to protect other women,” Allred said. “That’s why the family chose to speak out.”

A $250,000 legal claim against the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department--the first step toward a lawsuit--will be filed next week, Allred said.

Reading from a prepared statement, Hansen, the sheriff’s station commander, confirmed that agency officials had screened rough footage and approved the material for broadcast.

“In the review, the Sheriff’s Department did not hear the first name of the minor mentioned in the tape, nor did the producers of the ‘Cops’ television program, nor did employees of the Fox Broadcasting Co.,” Hansen said.

“It is a longstanding practice of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department not to release the name of a victim of any sex crime, whether minor or adult.”

The “Cops” program documented a female deputy’s interrogation of a 19-year-old man on Jan. 19 in which the investigator stated the girl’s first name and asked the suspect whether he had sexual relations with her. The suspect said that he had. The identity of the city is visible on the patch on the officer’s uniform.

The girl’s father said it angered him that sheriff’s officials had not been more sensitive. “They had a responsibility to my daughter,” he said. As a paramedic himself, he said, “I’ve seen a lot of rape victims. I see what a horrible thing this is for people . . . If nothing else, let’s not disclose the names.”

He said his strong feelings prompted him to seek out the controversial, crusading Allred. “I contacted Gloria Allred because I knew I could get some attention,” he said.

As described by the girl’s father, the “Cops” program transformed a family crisis into a public matter.

His daughter had been dating the suspect--identified by police as Maurice Turner--for about one month before the alleged assault occurred, the father said. He said that he and his wife instructed their daughter to end the relationship after discovering her boyfriend was almost 19, not 16 as they had been led to believe.

The encounter that prompted the police investigation occurred after she ended the relationship, the girl said. She declined to say whether she consented to sexual relations with Turner.

Under California law, Allred emphasized, consent is not a relevant legal matter in allegations concerning sexual relations between an adult and a minor. In telling the sheriff’s deputy he had engaged in sex with the girl, Allred said, the suspect had in effect admitted to statutory rape.

Allred said that state law does not protect the privacy of rape victims regardless of their age. Minor suspects are afforded such protection, she said.

Several prominent journalists have argued that the media perpetuates the stigma of rape by withholding names of victims.