Police defend TV sting

<p>The practices of an online advocacy group that worked with Petaluma police on an Internet sex-predator sting remained under defense scrutiny Wednesday, the third day of a preliminary hearing for a cancer doctor arrested in the operation.</p><p>Dr. Maurice Wolin, 49, of Piedmont has pleaded not guilty to attempted lewd acts with a child in connection with his August 2006 arrest, along with 28 other men, during a three-day sting police conducted with the online group Perverted Justice and NBC News.</p><p>"Dateline NBC" televised the results in two one-hour segments of its "To Catch a Predator" series. Wolin arranged to meet a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl at a Petaluma house for sex, according to police and prosecutors.</p><p>The "girl" was really an adult decoy with Perverted Justice, and the group's founder arranged the meeting in an online chat with Wolin, police said.</p><p>If convicted at trial, Wolin would face a maximum of four years in prison on the felony charge and be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. His medical license was suspended last year and could be restricted further pending results of the criminal case.</p><p>At least 11 other defendants have agreed to plea bargains that resulted in sentences ranging from probation to nine months in jail. The cases of 14 are pending and four are fugitives after failing to show up in court.</p><p>In his second day on the stand after a monthlong break in the hearing, Petaluma Police Lt. Matt Stapleton continued to defend his department's unusual cooperation with the self-professed vigilante group and the TV show, whose host was allowed to interview the suspects on camera before police arrested them.</p><p>NBC provided much of the video and audio recording equipment, Stapleton testified, and rented the sting home and furnished the back yard with a hot tub and other furniture. NBC paid a young-looking actress to serve as a decoy at the house.</p><p>Stapleton said Perverted Justice provided computer equipment, sting workers and decoys -- untrained and unobserved by police -- who said they chatted online with men who agreed to meet a supposedly underage girl or boy at the Petaluma house for sex.</p><p>Once the men were taken into custody, Perverted Justice provided police with printouts they said were accurate accounts of the chats. The chats include sexual talk, discussions of the decoy's age and details about the agreement to meet.</p><p>Wolin's attorney has challenged the accuracy of the logs.</p><p>Judge Raima Ballinger hasn't issued a final ruling about whether they will be admitted as evidence.</p><p>On the stand Wednesday, Stapleton, who set up and supervised the sting, said he believes Perverted Justice provides thorough records that can hold up in court.</p><p>Wolin's attorney, Blair Berk of Los Angeles, tried to show several instances in which the sting failed to adhere to Stapleton's written protocol for the operation. For instance, she said some of the decoys posted computer profiles with photos that appeared to be older than 13 and there was no law enforcement review of the chat logs prior to arrests being made.</p><p>Stapleton testified that he had no problem allowing the TV show host to question the defendants about their intent before officers took them into custody.</p><p>He said NBC agreed to provide all their recorded evidence to police, an action almost universally rejected by journalists who generally try to be neutral observers rather than participants in news stories. Months later, he said, NBC did request that police get a subpoena when they wanted a copy of something.</p><p>Stapleton acknowledged that the decoy who said he chatted with Wolin was Xavier Von Erck, 28, who is Perverted Justice's founder. While some decoys are volunteers, Von Erck is the organization's paid operations director.</p><p>Berk has suggested that paid decoys have an incentive to entrap people.</p><p>On the group's Web site, Von Erck describes himself as a "childless atheist Libertarian," who lives in Portland, Ore. He used to run another Web site called angryGerman.com, but in April changed it to Evilvigilante.com.</p><p>Von Erck may testify today.</p><p>At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, possibly on Friday, Ballinger will decide if there is enough evidence to hold Wolin over for trial.</p><p>He remains free on bail.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.;</p><p>Dr. Maurice Wolin</p><p>Doctor has pleaded not guilty.</p>