D.A. TURNS UP HEAT ON MEN WHO IMPREGNATE TEENS : STATUTORY RAPE CASES UP 400%.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

A special District Attorney's Office team has spent the year aggressively pursuing statutory rape offenders, in response to statistics that show adult fathers are responsible for nearly one in three county babies conceived by girls 13-17.

The state Office of Criminal Justice Planning awarded a $150,000 grant to Ventura and 15 other counties back in January. The program - an important element in Gov. Pete Wilson's campaign to reduce teen pregnancy - was expanded for the current budget year to all counties, at a total cost of $8.4 million.

It is illegal in California for a man or woman 18 or older to have sex outside of marriage with anyone younger than 18. The grants specifically target cases involving adult males.

``It's a crime. It causes a lot of social problems and we need to address that,'' said Deputy District Attorney Adam Pearlman, who has the full-time task of prosecuting statutory rape cases in Ventura County.

Enforcement in the county indeed has been more pronounced.

``It's only been nine months so far and I've already filed 21 cases. I figure we're going to be up to 30 or 40 cases by the end of the year,'' Pearlman noted. ``The year before this, there might have been five cases.''

Pearlman said he has reviewed some 100 cases, aided by an investigator and a victims advocate. Cases that didn't result in criminal charges either involved two minors or relationships where sexual intercourse didn't occur.

Of the cases filed so far, a dozen have been completed and all resulted in guilty or no contest pleas. Misdemeanor offenses have brought community service. Felonies have resulted in a sentence of as long as a year in county jail followed by probation.

``None have gone to trial. I think I can win all my cases, so I don't know why any defense attorney would want to go to trial,'' Pearlman noted.

Teen pregnancy costs taxpayers as much as $7 billion a year in welfare payments, medical care and related costs across the nation, said Mike Carrington, deputy director of the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning.

``Of the entire teen pregnancy problem for the state, this kind of circumstance accounts for 56 percent of the problem,'' Carrington said.

``These circumstances are ruining the lives of thousands of young women,'' he contended. ``It's traumatizing them. They frequently find themselves not completing their education and you begin the cycle downward into welfare dependency.''

The father of a 14-year-old Ventura girl who was seduced by her girlfriend's 35-year-old father this spring recalled the damage done by the illicit relationship to his daughter.

``There's anger, there's fear, there's that huge sense of trust that has just been trashed,'' said the girl's father. ``It came out in counseling and she felt so bad that she was going to get this guy guilty. Really, it's

manipulation, the impact an adult can have on an adolescent.''

No pregnancy resulted and a mandatory HIV/AIDS test proved negative, but that's been little comfort to the family, who asked that their names not be used.

The defendant, whose name is not made public to protect his victim's identity, was sentenced to a year in county jail after pleading no contest to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He is among the first eight adult men to be sentenced to jail or community service as a result of increased prosecution of statutory rape cases.

Some critics question whether enforcing statutory rape laws does much to prevent such relationships and reduce teen pregnancy.

Oxnard attorney Jorge Alvarado represents two men in their mid-20s charged with felonies for having sexual relations with girls eight years younger. Alvarado takes issue with strictly enforcing the law in cases involving mature teen-age girls who have consenting sexual relationships with men who are older yet arguably in the same peer group.

``As a result of the special funding, the prosecution is now justifying these cases whatever the circumstances,'' he contended.

``I don't believe these would have been charged a year ago,'' Alvarado said of the two cases he is defending. ``If that's the case, then it sounds like they were exercising a level of discretion back then, but now because they have the funding, to justify a full-time position like this, they're going to prosecute it.''

The only defense stated in the statute recognizes a reasonable and honest belief by the adult that the minor was 18 or older.

``It is a difficult defense,'' Alvarado conceded. ``The defendant will be guilty as long as he has knowledge or should have known she's under 18.''

Alvarado said he advised the two young men he represents not to be interviewed for this story. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Pearlman said that the District Attorney's Office has been fair in enforcing the law and that several factors are considered in deciding whether to prosecute cases as misdemeanor or felony offenses. For instance, Pearlman said he considers the difference in age and whether both are teen-agers, and whether an adult male in the same peer group takes responsibility for a pregnancy and supports the mother and child.

``The mission is to make sure that adult males who either are having a sexual relationship with minors or impregnating minors know that that is wrong conduct,'' Pearlman explained.

Los Angeles County, for instance, is filing charges only in cases where there is a seven-year age gap and the girl is pregnant. Officials have said that increases chances for convictions because a DNA test will prove that sex occurred, regardless of whether the girl cooperates as a prosecution witness.

``In most cases they are pregnant,'' said Linda Finnerty, the victims advocate working with Pearlman in Ventura County. ``That's when we usually find out about it. A lot of the cases, they are reported to us when they go in for aid. In other cases, the `parents report it.''

Finnerty remains with girls during interviews and prepares them to deal with the court proceedings. She also assists girls, and families if they are involved, with prenatal care, financial assistance, counseling and keeping the girls in school.

``This isn't something that stops when the criminal case stops. Whatever it is they need, I'm still there,'' Finnerty said. ``In some cases, I'm it.''

Hoping to reach out to teen-age girls before they get involved with adult men, Finnerty is seeking approval from the county's school superintendents to provide a program at high schools and middle schools.

Even open and supportive families might need help, as the parents of the 14-year-old Ventura girl learned.

``I would classify us as a very strong, communicative type of family. This just blind-sided us,'' the father said.

``We felt we had full support from the District Attorney's Office. Everybody is so traumatized and they supported us throughout,'' he said. ``I'm just glad it's done. We can move on.''