Pandering Conviction Not End of Scandal for Builder

A sex scandal did not end this week when a prominent developer and his father were convicted of pandering and other charges relating to paying teen-age girls for sex, authorities confirmed Friday.

Burbank police said they are now investigating allegations by at least one girl that Michael A. Mersola and his 82-year-old father not only paid teen-agers for sex, but that he also set up meetings between the girls and other men.

Although authorities said they do not expect to seek additional charges against Mersola or his father, Anthony Mersola, they said they want to at least interview the girls involved, and several unidentified men, to see if the allegations can be substantiated.

“At this point we’re just looking for the other guys,” Burbank police Detective Craig Varner said. “Because it’s an ongoing investigation, I can’t say anything more than that.”

One of the girls, who is now 16, has told authorities she had sex on a regular basis with at least six men besides Mersola. The girl also told police the relationships occurred in the recent past and lasted at least nine months, and that Mersola also encouraged her to become a performer in pornographic films, according to authorities involved in the investigation.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they have turned over evidence to Burbank police to help them in their ongoing investigation, including a tape of a July 13 phone conversation in which Mersola allegedly promised an undercover officer that he could provide him with a 16-year-old girl for “a date” for $200.

“He was setting up dates with these girls,” said Detective William Dworin, head of the LAPD’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit. “I don’t know how many adults were involved. . . . He suggested in our conversation that there were others.”

A lawyer for the Mersolas, Vincent Stefano Jr. of Burbank, did not return calls seeking comment.

The girl who made the allegations to police also could not be reached for comment. But Burbank police say they believe that Mersola promoted her and other girls as prostitutes, and acted as the connection between them and their customers, using a beeper to have both the men and the girls call him so he could arrange liaisons.

“He was attempting to use their sexual favors for other people,” said Varner, the lead investigator from Burbank on the case. “He was basically just prostituting them.”

On Tuesday, Mersola, 56, of Glendale, pleaded no contest to various pandering and attempted bribery charges and was sentenced to serve five years in state prison. Authorities said Mersola paid at least four teen-age girls for sex since 1991, including one 14-year-old, and offered them bribes in order to prevent them from testifying against him. He also threatened to kill at least one of them, authorities said.

When he is formally sentenced next month, Mersola also will be ordered to serve three years on parole upon his release from prison, and will be required to register as a convicted sex offender.

His father was sentenced to three years probation and required to register as a sex offender. He pleaded no contest to one count of oral copulation with a minor.

The Mersola family is well known in Burbank for building apartment complexes and other structures. Family members frequently appear before the City Council on housing issues, participate in local football leagues and other civic activities and contribute to local politicians.

The sentences were decried by some family members of the girls as being too lenient. Police and prosecutors said the sentences were fair, especially since the pretrial settlement would prevent at least four teen-age girls from having to testify and face cross-examination in the case, and because of the elder Mersola’s age.

The charges against Mersola and his father stemmed from their own personal involvement with the girls, and included nothing about any alleged pimping activities. But in a police affidavit filed in the original case, authorities quoted another of the girls as saying Mersola “asked her if she would be interested in prostituting. Mersola told (the girl) she could make a lot of money.”

In the affidavit, a third girl is quoted as saying Mersola “told her she could make a lot of money by prostituting herself and told her he knew of people who would pay to have sex with her.”

Dworin, the Los Angeles police detective, said he made phone calls to Mersola to inquire about having sex with a teen-age girl as part of an LAPD investigation.

After calling Mersola at his Burbank office, Dworin said he discussed getting set up with a young girl.

A meeting was to be arranged for the next day but it never took place, possibly because Mersola learned he was under investigation, police said.

During the phone conversation, which Dworin said he taped, Mersola said he could provide Dworin with a 16-year-old runaway who needed money, and probably wouldn’t mind posing for pornographic pictures, Dworin said in an interview.

Asked if the girl was experienced, Mersola said no, according to Dworin, that she had that “innocent look” that is much in demand. Although sex acts were never explicitly discussed, “there was no doubt in my mind what we were talking about,” Dworin said.

The girl also has told authorities that she was encouraged to act in movies, Varner said. “That’s the aspect we’re really looking into, but we don’t have the names and (phone) numbers to really pursue it.”