-Caveat Lector-
"[The journalist], whose reporting about gay and lesbian culture has
appeared nationally in newspapers and magazines including the San Francisco
Examiner, Miami Herald, Detroit Free Press, Men's Health, and Out, contends
he [approached] the 13-year-old boy in hopes of writing an investigative
story about 'troubled' youths."
Gay Reporter on Trial in Sex Sting
BY NOAH ISACKSON
.c The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO (AP) - A gay journalist says he was simply doing research for a
story on homosexual teens when he showed up at a park to see a 13-year-old
boy he met on the Internet.
Bruce Mirken, 42, went on trial Tuesday, accused of arranging for sex with a
teen-ager.
He was arrested a year ago in a Sacramento park where he went to meet a gay
boy he had conversed with online. Instead he was met by an undercover police
officer in a sting operation that tracked Mirken's e-mail and phone
conversations with ``Anthony,'' a fictitious boy used to dupe Mirken.
Mirken could get up to four years in prison if convicted of attempting to
commit a lewd and lascivious act on a child.
Authorities started investigating Mirken after he answered an electronic
message posted in a chat room by ``Anthony,'' who said he was looking for an
adult friend because his last one moved away.
Mirken, whose stories about gay and lesbian culture have appeared in
newspapers and magazines including the San Francisco Examiner, Miami Herald,
Detroit Free Press, Men's Health and Out, contends he corresponded with the
boy in hopes of writing an investigative story about troubled gay youth, not
to have sex.
``I can't wait to testify,'' said Mirken, who took notes in a spiral notebook
throughout Tuesday's opening arguments. ``The prosecution's evidence is made
up of out-of-context statements and half-truths.''
First Amendment advocates fear the case may hurt reporters' efforts to gather
information.
``It's not all that uncommon for a journalist who is dealing with the fringes
of society to ignore or play along with the source,'' said Terry Francke,
general counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition. ``The whole
point is to get the information that the journalist is looking for.''
Prosecutors told the jury that recorded conversations and e-mail records
between Mirken - who used the screen name ``Luvboys343'' - and the boy were
sexually charged and filled with flirtatious questions such as, ``Do you
skinny-dip?'' and ``Does your mother come home during lunch?''
The defense argued that the boy introduced himself to Mirken as lonely and
that the questions were not sexual in their proper context.
``What we have are innocent statements by Mr. Mirken and a series of sexual
responses by the police officer,'' said his attorney, Bruce Nickerson. ``What
interested Mr. Mirken were statements by the boy that sounded like he may be
in trouble.''
Prosecutor Perry Sims said Mirken clearly indicated his sexual intentions by
arranging to meet the boy in a park nearly 90 miles from his home and leaving
his notebook and expired press pass in his car when he got there.
Sims said Mirken was arrested carrying $96, the amount the undercover officer
had said it would cost for them to get a hotel room.
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