Detective given award

After working on a case that landed two local pimps behind bars, Glendale Police Det. Matt Irvine was named investigator of the year by a state law-enforcement group, an honor that he takes humbly and attributes largely to the aid of his cohorts.

Members of the California Sexual Assaults Investigators Assn. joined Glendale Police officials and the City Council Tuesday to present the association’s Patrick Sullivan Investigator of the Year award to Irvine. “I’m very proud of all of Matt Irvine’s work,” said Police Chief Randy Adams. “This case is just one of many of his that ended with outstanding results. I couldn’t be more excited for him.”

Irvine, a 39-year-old, nine-year veteran of the force, was given the award on behalf of his work uncovering a child-prostitution and pornography ring with a headquarters in Glendale.

The case involved two cousins — Kasey and Stephen Stinson — who were convicted in December 2005 of circulating underage prostitutes in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas area and creating a website containing child pornography.

“The older Stinson already had a history of prostituting underage girls,” Irvine said.

His history eventually helped out the case, as Irvine, with the help of several other law-enforcement agencies, was able to track down former prostitutes and associates of the Stinsons. With their testimony, Stephen Stinson was eventually sentenced to 22 years in prison and Kasey to almost 16 years. Though he received the award for his hard work, Irvine said he felt it should be split up and distributed among all those that aided in prosecuting the case.

“I’m honored … but all I did was kind of quarterback this thing,” he said.

He thanked all the law-enforcement officials and citizens that assisted him. He said they all played large roles in getting the convictions.

“We had tremendous cooperation from a lot of different agencies,” he said.

In particular he honored the girls — whose ages ranged from 15 to 17 — who put themselves on the line to testify in the trial.

“The real heroes of this thing are the girls, who despite embarrassment and personal pain had the guts to get up there and put these guys away,” he said.

Association president Jeannie Stephenson said the award often goes to law-enforcement officials who do a lot of behind-the-scenes work that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“He has contributed tremendously to the protection of citizens of Glendale and made it a better place to live in,” she said.