SANTA CLARITA : Lungren’s Relative Charged With Indecent Exposure
State Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren’s brother-in-law, a Santa Clarita Valley Republican activist, pleaded not guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor indecent exposure charge.
Gene Bloom did not appear for his arraignment in Newhall Municipal Court. An attorney entered the plea on his behalf, and a judge set a pretrial hearing for April 21 in Van Nuys Municipal Court.
Prosecutors filed the charge against Bloom after a neighbor claimed that the vice chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee exposed himself Jan. 25 as he stopped to pick up a newspaper outside his Castaic home.
After Bloom was charged in March, seven other women--including three of Lungren’s sisters--came forward with stories similar to that of Bloom’s 20-year-old neighbor.
“My client is innocent unless they prove him guilty,” Bloom’s attorney, Barry Levin, said earlier. “I know he will be vindicated.”
Bloom is married to Lungren’s sister, Elizabeth. Prosecutors said they could not charge Bloom in connection with the other women’s complaints because the alleged incidents occurred outside the statute of limitations.
The defendant remains free on his own recognizance pending the outcome of his case.
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