Reports from Santa Barbara on the Andrew Bourne/ Joe Walker child sex case continue as the two accused men returned home to Mammoth Lakes on bail. Bourne officially resigned from his seat on the Mammoth School Board. Both men head back to court on Thursday.
The Santa Barbara News-Press quoted Santa Barbara Deputy District Attorney Mary Barron as saying that the case is still under investigation and that the men may face additional charges. In the bail hearing for Bourne and Walker, Barron had argued that the two men had “apparently brainwashed the alleged victim, who is now 15.” She told Superior Court Judge George Eskin that Dr. Bourne allegedly discussed with the alleged victim his intent to commit suicide to evade charges.
Barron also reportedly said that over the course of the men’s alleged two-year relationship with the teenager there were “numerous clandestine meetings in Santa Barbara and in Mammoth Lakes” which the girl had traveled to more than 100 times, Barron said.
It was on Friday that Mammoth School District Superintendent Rich Boccia issued a statement to the community. He said, “We continue to be in shock about the news and the allegations associated with Dr. Andy Bourne.” Boccia said Dr. Bourne submitted his resignation as a member of the Mammoth Unified School District Board Friday morning. “His primary focus at this time,” said Boccia, “is on his personal challenges and caring for his family.” Boccia said the Board will move forward with the appointment of another board member.
Back in Santa Barbara, Deputy DA Barron was quoted in the Santa Barbara Independent as saying that while both defendants enjoyed a certain stature in their community, they “both had alter egos and flew under the radar.” Of the alleged victim in this case, Barron is quoted as saying that the girl was “extremely vulnerable and appears to have been essentially brainwashed and groomed by two grown men.”
Attorneys representing the accused said a lot of the prosecutions claims are only opinion, suspicions and innuendo. Bourne’s attorney, Ron Bamieh, told Sierra Wave that he was still waiting for discovery, or evidence from the prosecution, against his client. Another hearing is scheduled for this Thursday in Santa Barbara Superior Court.
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a friend……Don’t know how much time these men spent with their families,but no matter how much it was,it (allegedly)was not enough…….with way too much time on the computer…allegedly.
^yes perhaps instead of hanging out with a 14 year old, texting/facebooking..spending time with a lovely wife, children and family could have been more important.
this story just keeps getting worse, i am so very disappointed.
I do not care what their professional status is.
How can you not know it is wrong to text/facebook/ with a 13-14 y.o consistently, without parental knowledge. Even if “innocent”(was it “just flirting”?) shame on anyone for being in this situation!!
Do you have any factual knowledge of how much time these men spent with their families? Based on your comments, I suggest that you do not. Please ground your comments in facts, observations, or at least some actual encounters rather than suspicion. Let these men have their trial. Let them be judged based on the facts. Until then– please be fair. Please be kind.
A little late for that; exactly my thoughts.
He’ll find God next
I’m sure this will be misinterpreted and flamed as a good-old-boy, inbred, small-town/small-minded post.
The charges are heinous. If they did what is charged, they need to be locked up and the key thrown away. There is no excuse for what is alleged. But I’ve got to question some of what the prosecutor has said.
For example, if Bourne really was going to commit suicide, then why is he still alive and fighting the charges? Seems like a surgeon could figure out how to kill himself.
Why is the prosecutor saying the alleged victim was brainwashed? Is it because she is refusing to corroborate prosecutorial theories? If so, is it due to brainwashing/grooming or is it because some/all of the crimes didn’t happen?
Was Bourne really going to run away with the alleged victim? With only $5,000? The guy’s flush and that’s all he was going to take with him? Why didn’t he take her on the Mexico trip that The Sheet wrote about–they could have run off then.
Who leaked the original, erroneous multiple-rape reports? Why? Did the prosecutors intend to file those charges at one point and back down because of a lack of credible evidence? Did they fail to find a smoking gun when they took away all those thumb drives? Is their whole case going up in flames?
I’m not in a position to answer these questions. Probably none of the commenters are. But we should all realize that sometimes people are arrested for crimes they didn’t commit. Let’s reserve judgment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fairfax-teacher-sean-lanigan-still-suffering-from-false-molestation-allegations/2011/03/04/AFVwhh3G_story.html and http://live.washingtonpost.com/sean-lanigan.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/nyregion/08freed.html and http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-02-23/news/27057139_1_drunken-brawl-extremely-heinous-crime-prison
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-04-17/news/29461335_1_central-park-jogger-raymond-santana-matias-reyes
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/nyregion/a-revenge-plot-so-intricate-the-prosecutors-were-pawns.html?ref=nyregion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_lacrosse_case
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/custodian-falsely-accused-child-rape-sues-city-10m-article-1.246728
“His primary focus at this time,” said Boccia, “is on his personal challenges and caring for his family.” It’s a little late for that!