R. Scott Moxley introduced readers to Stephen
Robert Deck in March 2006, about
three weeks after the longtime CHP official was snared by Laguna Beach
police and Perverted-Justice.com–a non-profit organization aimed at protecting
children from Internet sexual predators–for allegedly trying to have sex with someone he met online he believed to be a 13-year-old girl.
Opening statements are finally scheduled to begin in Deck's trial this morning in Santa Ana.
For all the sick details of the case against the 54-year-old ex-CHP lieutenant out of Carlsbad, revisit Moxley's story, “'You Have All the Pie I Want to Eat': High-ranking state cop nabbed by decoy 13-year-old in Internet pedophile sting.” The Orange County District Attorney's PG-13 version follows after the jump . . .
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Beginning Feb. 12, 2006, Deck is accused of initiating contact and
engaging in sexually explicit conversations over the Internet with a
person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. The defendant was actually
communicating with an adult citizen volunteer from
Perverted-Justice.com, a non-profit organization aimed at protecting
children from Internet sexual predators. Over several days, Deck is
accused of having numerous online and phone conversations with a woman
who told him she was a 13-year-old girl. He is accused of inquiring if
the girl liked older men, making graphic sexual statements and sexually
suggestive comments about eating pie, and arranging to meet the
“victim” in Laguna Beach.
On Feb. 18, 2009, Deck is accused of driving from San Diego County to
Laguna Beach with the intention of committing unlawful sexual acts with
the fake 13-year-old. When Deck arrived at the prearranged location, he
is accused of being in possession of several condoms, a digital camera,
and key lime pie. Deck was arrested upon arrival.
Deck and 12 other men were arrested in the sting.
Moxley reported that after his arrest, Deck complained of a sudden medical
condition–an anxiety attack, perhaps–and asked to be taken to a
hospital. Doctors found nothing wrong. It was a pattern that would play itself out in court two years later, when a judge denied a motion to dismiss the case. As Moxley also reported, Deck reacted by fainting in the courtroom.
No one was truly sicker than Deck's CHP
superiors, who fired the 23-year cop.
He now faces one felony count of
attempted lewd acts on a child under 14 and, if convicted, up to four years in state prison.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.