Ex-Reporter Appears in Court to Face Sex Count

By Joe Mozingo
Times Staff Writer

October 11, 2006

In shackles and handcuffs, former Los Angeles police spokesman Roderick "Rod" Bernsen appeared in a federal courtroom Tuesday to face a felony count of "abusive sexual contact" during an encounter with two 12-year-old boys in a cruise ship sauna.

Bernsen, 58, also a former Fox 11 news reporter, was arrested on board the Diamond Princess after it docked in Long Beach on Saturday at the end of a weeklong cruise to Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The single criminal count alleges that Bernsen spanked the bare buttocks of one boy, and touched the other's penis with his toe. His lawyer, James Epstein, downplayed the allegations. "He's shocked and devastated by these charges, minor as they are," he said.

The count carries a statutory maximum of two years in prison, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Patricia Donahue. Prosecutors have until Nov. 13 to return with a grand jury indictment, which could contain different charges, or to drop the case.

Bernsen was released on $850,000 bond and ordered to stay away from children. In court, he sat behind glass gazing at former colleagues in the news media, mostly with a pained expression, but at one point clowning with a court artist he knew by briefly covering his face with his hands and then laughing.

According to the arrest affidavit, the two boys, cousins and part of an extended family taking the cruise together, first encountered Bernsen in the Lotus Spa sauna Sept. 30. Children were not allowed in the sauna, but it was not monitored.

Bernsen was naked. He introduced himself and chatted about golf, eventually showing them a scar from a back injury that he said prevented him from playing sports, the boys told FBI Special Agent Julie Viana, according to the affidavit.....
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