Doctor must stand trial in sex sting case

<p>The East Bay physician arrested in an underage sex sting organized by Petaluma police and NBC News must stand trial, a Sonoma County judge ruled Thursday.</p><p>The ruling was the second affirmation from a Sonoma County judge that prosecutors have enough evidence to try Dr. Maurice Wolin of Piedmont on a charge of attempted child molestation.</p><p>Wolin’s lawyer had argued that the sting operation, run by the NBC program “Dateline” with the Internet watchdog group Perverted Justice, amounted to entrapment. </p><p>Blair Berk, a Los Angeles lawyer representing Wolin, also told Judge Arthur Wick that there was not enough evidence to show Wolin attempted to engage in sex acts with a minor.</p><p>Berk can appeal Wick’s decision in the state 1st District Court of Appeal.</p><p>Wolin, meanwhile, is scheduled to be back in court on Feb 21 for pretrial proceedings.</p><p>Wolin was one of 29 men arrested in August 2006 after they allegedly engaged in lewd Internet chat conversations with adults posing as underage boys and girls.</p><p>The men were arrested when they went to a Petaluma home expecting to meet teenagers, presumably for sexual encounters. Before they were arrested by police, they were confronted by an NBC reporter. </p><p>Many of the men, though not Wolin, spoke on camera.</p><p>At least a dozen cases have been settled with plea bargains that included about nine months of jail time. Defendants also were required to register as sex offenders.</p>