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Attempted Lewd Act Conviction Did Not Require Police to Wait Until Defendant Actually Enter a Hotel Room With a Minor

By Walin & Klarich

Jeffrey MacKanin, a California Department of Justice special agent supervisor who oversaw a Federal and State task force investigating child exploitation crimes, posed on line as a 13-year-old runaway girl named ?Hope.? On December 7, 2004 Arthur Crabtree, an attorney who sometimes acted as a ?Pro Tem Judge? and was once a city of Glendale Police Officer, contacted ?Hope? online. A series of contacts ensued between Crabtree and ?Hope? over an approximate six-week period which included various sexual references, that he bought ?Hope? a bikini, and that they would take a bubble-bath together. Crabtree ultimately sent ?Hope? a bus ticket and arranged for the two to meet at a Los Angeles Greyhound station. Crabtree was arrested by the FBI at the Greyhound station after a special agent observed him approaching at least three different female teenagers...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on July 15, 2009 (boomark / email).