ANATOMY OF A PIMPING OPERATION COUSINS' SEX, PORN BUSINESS BUILT ON 'RUTHLESS' BEHAVIOR.

Byline: Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writer

Kasey Stinson served as the bait, using his youthful GQ charisma to lure teenage girls to the rented house in a middle-class Glendale neighborhood. Stephen Stinson, his older cousin, lent his brains to run the operation.

Together, they ran a prostitution and pornography ring, turning the Glendale house into a Girls-Gone-Wild-style set with girls as young as 15.

Now, both cousins are in prison, convicted on sexual exploitation charges.

``These guys were smart,'' Glendale Police Department Detective Matt Irvine said. ``They're con men, they're smooth talkers. They're not Neanderthals, but they're ruthless.''

Kasey, now 21, and Stephen Stinson, now 40, rented the house on the 300 block of West Lomita Avenue in March 2004. It was two months after Stephen was paroled from state prison for the fourth time.

They drove flashy cars - Kasey a BMW, Stephen a white Lincoln Town Car. The cars were included on expense sheets Stephen put together for their blossoming operation.

They set up a hard-core porn Web site that included advertisements for call girl services. Kasey, 19 at the time, lured four young girls. He would turn on his charm, give them clothes, food and a place to sleep. Two other girls were from his old high school in the Pasadena area.

Kasey had the reputation of throwing the best parties in high school - he'd invite the best-looking girls and charge the boys a cover charge to get in so it was natural for girls to come to parties at his new Glendale pad.

``These weren't parties in the sense that you and I think of,'' Irvine said. ``These parties were seductions, preludes to sex scenes. It would be Kasey and Stephen and a half-dozen girls. There would be music, drugs and alcohol. It looks like an MTV video, and then the clothes start coming off.''

The high school girls would participate in the sex videos, but they weren't involved in the prostitution, Irvine said.

``They were like tourists to the whole thing,'' Irvine said. ``They went home every night to their families, then they'd play hooky from school and go back to the house in Glendale.

``There's a metaphor that if you put a frog in hot water he'll jump out immediately, but if you put it in cold water and slowly turn up the temperature, he'll cook. That's what these guys did - they gradually turned up the temperature.''

The runaways and foster children would answer phones, using scripts prepared by Stephen. They claimed to be an escort service, never mentioning sexual acts. But once in the street, Irvine said, they had a menu of options, ranging in price from $40 to $250.

None of the prostitution took place in Glendale, Irvine said. Instead, the Stinsons would drive out to Sylmar, Hollywood, Pasadena or Pomona.

Kasey Stinson kept the girls in line by giving with a mix of charm and tough love. He'd buy them food - taking them to places like McDonald's - and give them clothes. But if they got out of line or didn't earn enough money, he'd beat them viciously.

On June 25, 2004, a neighbor on Lomita Avenue heard a fight coming from the Stinsons' house and called police. When officers arrived, they found Kasey Stinson beating one of the girls. Three months after the Stinsons opened shop, the Glendale police shut it down.

After a joint investigation involving multiple police agencies and the FBI, Kasey and Stephen Stinson were charged with sexual exploitation. Kasey was arrested in July. Stephen fled, and then turned himself in two weeks later.

Kasey Stinson reached a plea agreement in April 2005, pleading guilty to charges of child exploitation in return for a lighter sentence - nearly 12 years in state prison.

Stephen Stinson was convicted in December of eight counts related to child exploitation. In January, he was sentenced to 22 years in state prison - and Kasey Stinson was given an additional four years for lying under oath during his cousin's trial.

``The verdicts we got, the plea and conviction we got, we owe a lot of that to the girls, their willingness to tell the truth about some really painful and humiliating things,'' Irvine said.

Josh Kleinbaum, [phone]

josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) KASEY STINSON

(2) STEPHEN STINSON