Ex-political aide denies sex with boy, 14

A former congressional aide accused of child molestation testified Monday that he never had sex with a 14-year-old Westminster boy and that the only time they touched was when they shook hands to say goodbye the last time they saw each other.

Jeffrey Nielsen, under pointed and persistent cross-examination by an Orange County prosecutor, did acknowledge that he had looked at computer images of men having sex with boys but that he didn’t consider it any more exciting than other gay pornography.

He never retreated from his insistence that he was innocent in the case. He said he empathized with a teenager who was threatening to run away or kill himself as he struggled with a homosexual identity that was not accepted by his mother or church.

“I was gay, and I was not out of the closet,” Nielsen responded during a line of questioning from deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Hess. “He was gay and obviously had not come out of the closet.”

Nielsen, a 36-year-old lawyer who worked for U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) in the mid-1990s, is accused of molesting the teen, known in court only as John Doe, three times in spring 2003: twice at Nielsen’s Ladera Ranch condominium and once in the Westminster mobile home where the teen and his family lived.

The final witness to testify at his trial in a Newport Beach courtroom, Nielsen offered a starkly different account of what transpired than did the alleged victim, who appeared forgetful and flustered when he testified last week.

Nielsen said the two met through an Internet website for gay men. He said he assumed Doe was at least 18 before they met in person for the first time because the website is for adults, and the profile that Doe posted indicated he was “18 or 19.”

He testified that he “panicked” when Doe climbed into his car in front of the Westminster public library, where they had arranged to meet, because he realized that Doe was not as old as he had thought, and looked more like 14 or 15.

Nielsen said he told Doe to get out of his car but that the teenager refused, instead growing increasingly emotional about issues related to his homosexuality. Nielsen said Doe told him he was contemplating suicide or running away to spare himself from having to admit to anyone that he was gay.

Nielsen said he suggested they head to a nearby coffee shop or local fast-food restaurant to talk but that Doe told him he was afraid his friends or members of his church would see them together. So, Nielsen testified, they headed to his Ladera Ranch condo after he invited Doe to join him while he ran some errands.

Asked by the prosecutor why he didn’t just go around to the passenger side of the car and remove the teen, Nielsen said he didn’t want to leave Doe in such an emotional state. “I’m not that kind of person,” he said.

At his condo, Nielsen said, he pulled into his garage and introduced Doe to his dog, Paige.

Nielsen testified that he then heard his phone ringing and rushed to answer it, leaving the door open. He said he asked Doe to follow the dog as it ran upstairs to Nielsen’s third-floor bedroom, to keep the dog from getting its toys.

The teenager had testified that the two had sex in Nielsen’s bedroom and described the room, including the stuffed animals on Nielsen’s bed.

But Nielsen testified that they were never in his room together. He said the two of them took his dog for a walk and that he then drove Doe back to the library and dropped him off.

They met again for lunch about a week later at Doe’s home, Nielsen said.

On the way from his Costa Mesa law office, Nielsen said, he stopped and picked up tacos at a Del Taco restaurant.

Doe had testified that he and Nielsen had sex that day in his mother’s bedroom. But Nielsen said he never entered nor saw any bedroom in the family’s mobile home.

Referring to an e-mail Nielsen sent earlier that day telling Doe he wanted to meet for “something quick,” the prosecutor suggested that the “something” was sex. With no hesitation, Nielsen said he and Doe had talked about getting together for lunch in previous conversations, and even though “lunch” was never mentioned specifically in the e-mail, it was understood by both.

Nielsen said the third and final time the two met, he picked up the teen and they took a walk for nearly an hour. It was then, Nielsen testified, that he told Doe he didn’t think they should meet in person anymore but that he would be available by phone or e-mail if needed.

The teenager testified last week that it was he who wanted to end the relationship and that Nielsen persuaded him to meet for sex a third and final time, after Doe e-mailed to say he wanted to find someone his age.

Closing arguments are scheduled for today.

christine.hanley@latimes.com