VAN NUYS : Deputy to Be Tried in Jailhouse Sex Case
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A Superior Court judge has refused to dismiss charges against a sheriff’s deputy accused of having sex with female jail inmates when he worked as a bailiff in Van Nuys Superior Court.
Judge Mary Ann Murphy this week rejected a defense contention that a law barring inmate sex does not apply to deputies.
Authorities allege that Larry Fraize, 43, was videotaped performing a sex act with a jail inmate during a sting operation May 4. The videotape also shows Fraize watching two female inmates engaging in sex.
Paul Kinion, Fraize’s attorney, contends that his client could not be prosecuted for engaging in a consensual sex act because the law he is accused of violating applies only to inmates.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson, however, maintains that Fraize can be prosecuted under the law as an accomplice to the sex acts.
Los Angeles Municipal Judge Elva R. Soper rejected Kinion’s argument in August and ordered a trial. Kinion subsequently filed a motion in Superior Court to have the case dismissed, which Murphy denied Wednesday.
A pretrial hearing has been set for Jan. 25.
Fraize, who has been suspended from the Sheriff’s Department without pay, could be sentenced to two years in state prison if he is convicted.
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