Courting Fame May Have Landed Suspect in Court : Crime: Cable TV host and his father are charged with trying to arrange slaying of girl who accused him of rape. Young man’s lawyer says he is the victim.

On the small screen of cable access television, Tito David Valdez Jr. was a rising star. He was recognized on the Eastside nightclub circuit as host of a local teen-age party and music show. He seemed to be on his way up.

But behind the party guy image, Valdez was in trouble. Charged with the rape of a 13-year-old girl who applied for a job with his cable show, he faced a trial Monday that could have derailed his dreams. And now, Valdez, 23, and his father are in jail, accused of trying to hire a hit man to silence the girl.

According to prosecutors, the younger Valdez offered an undercover Downey police officer $250 to shoot the girl in the head and make it look like a carjacking. His father, Tito David Valdez, 56, bought a gun for the officer to use, police said.

But Valdez’s attorney said no rape took place, nor was there any murder solicitation. Instead, the very recognition that Valdez sought may have been his downfall, his attorney says.

“This is a clean-cut kid. A tremendous talent,” attorney Alfredo M. Amezcua said. “Somehow, the Downey Police Department is very interested in this case because he is so visible.”

Certainly, the younger Valdez courted media attention. For months, he sent tapes of his nearly year-old cable access show, “Hollywood Haze,” to newspapers and television stations. That generated a trickle of publicity--but nothing like the coverage he received this week as he appeared beside his father in matching blue, jail-issued jumpsuits in Downey Municipal Court.

After pleading not guilty to conspiracy and murder solicitation charges earlier in the week, the Valdezes on Thursday requested bail--which had been denied them since their Dec. 2 arrest.

Both father and son offered to place themselves under house arrest in their Downey home. But Municipal Judge John David Lord rejected their proposal, noting that the alleged murder plot was hatched in their house, and denied bail for the younger Valdez. His father was granted $1 million bail, but will remain in jail because he is unable to raise the money, said his attorney, Richard R. Leonard.

If convicted, the men face sentences of 25 years to life in prison.

According to police, the younger Valdez’s downfall began in April after he advertised for office help on his cable show. A 13-year-old girl answered the ad, telling Valdez she was 16. She told police that Valdez picked her up, brought her home, and, while his father and brother watched television downstairs, raped her in his room, Detective Stephen Garza said.

Amezcua offers a different scenario, one in which the TV host became a victim of his own limited celebrity.

“We are dealing with a very impressionable young lady, one who was mesmerized by David and his TV show,” Amezcua said. “She thought that by seeing and being seen with David she could be part of this culture his show portrayed.”

Amezcua denied that any sex took place, and said the girl was just seeking attention from the cable access host, and later from authorities.

Rape charges were filed, but Valdez remained free on $25,000 bail. While awaiting his December trial, Valdez landed a job as host of a weekly radio show and continued to produce his cable program--a freewheeling mixture of music videos and interviews with partying teen-agers and rap musicians. Most footage focused on teen-age girls dancing at underground parties and nightclubs.

As the rape trial approached, Amezcua said, a death threat note was left on the windshield of Valdez’s convertible.

Police say they never heard about any death threats against Valdez, and contend that his real problem was his making.

In the last six weeks, they said, Valdez had begun complaining in nightclubs about the pending rape case against him. One of the people he confided in was an FBI informant, who reported to authorities that Valdez wanted the girl scared. About two weeks ago, the informant said Valdez had changed his mind: Now he wanted the girl killed. FBI agents contacted Downey police, who set up a sting, Garza said.

On Dec. 2, an undercover officer met with Valdez and his father at their house and agreed to kill the girl for $250. Police said the older Valdez, a Rockwell mechanic for 33 years, was sent out to buy a gun. He walked down the block, bought a .38-caliber handgun for $200 and gave it to the purported hit man, Garza said.

The gun was purchased, Amezcua said, but only for the son’s protection.

Valdez was arrested as he drove from his house with the undercover officer to show him where the girl lived, Garza said. His father was arrested that night.

Although the younger Valdez is still scheduled to face his rape trial Monday, prosecutors and defense attorneys said the trial may be delayed. Both men are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing in the conspiracy case Dec. 20.