JUDGE THROWS OUT SEX-ASSAULT CASE AGAINST DEPUTY.

Byline: Janet Gilmore Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Harris Scott Mintz has insisted all along that he didn't do it - he did not rape a Calabasas woman described in court as an alcoholic phone-sex operator.

But unable to afford his bail of $600,000, Mintz spent five months behind bars while his case inched through the criminal justice system and the woman figured out how to spend $100,000 that the county awarded her to settle a civil claim.

On Thursday, however, an ecstatic Mintz was cleared of all wrongdoing in Los Angeles Superior Court when the judge threw out the rape charges, ruling that new testimony undermined the woman's credibility.

Her former roommate told the judge that the woman admitted to her that she had lied about the rape, and evidence surfaced that the woman had a history of making sexual assault claims.

On the same January 1996 day that she reported that Mintz had raped her at her home while he was on duty, the woman told state bar officials that her divorce attorney tried to barter sex for legal advice.

Enjoying his new freedom Thursday, the Lost Hills deputy was reluctant to discuss his case in depth. He did note, however, that while she received a $100,000 check from the county, he lost his salary and all benefits a month after he went to jail.

``I don't even have medical insurance,'' the 42-year-old Mintz said during an interview at his attorney's Encino office. ``We are just broke.''

It was Mintz's attorneys who uncovered the new evidence, not the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which brought the charges and portrayed Mintz in court as a violent rapist.

Prosecutors declined to discuss the case but said in a written statement: ``We were presented with new evidence on this case. We reviewed the evidence and gave it to the judge to review. Based on the new evidence, we cannot proceed.''

The County Counsel's Office and claims board, which approved the $100,000 settlement with the woman, could not be reached for comment. A board official has said it was less expensive to settle the claim than defend it in court.

Authorities have declined to identify the 36-year-old woman.

``I'm just extremely elated to finally put some closure on this,'' said Mintz, who spent five years in the Army and 11 years as a sheriff's deputy until he was suspended without pay Dec. 4.

Mintz predicted it will be difficult to recover from the humiliation of becoming an inmate after devoting his life to arresting criminals. ``All of a sudden I'm in the news in jailhouse blues,'' he said. ``That will take a very long time to get over.''

The case began with nearly as many twists and turns as it ended.

According to testimony during Mintz's preliminary hearing in February, the woman is a phone-sex operator with alcohol problems, financial troubles and a truant teen-age son.

Mintz learned of these problems and befriended her while on the job, two weeks before the alleged assault in 1995, a witness testified.

The deputy also initially was charged with raping his wife. But she recanted her claim during the three-day hearing.

Mintz's wife had told police that she and her husband routinely engaged in what she called ``rough sex'' and that on several occasions in late 1992 and early 1993 he raped her, once shoving a loaded gun in her mouth.

But under oath, she said all the sex acts were consentual and that the gun incident never occurred. The woman said she lied to investigators because she was angered by news that Mintz was cheating on her. (Mintz and his wife since have reunited.)

During the preliminary hearing, Deputy District Attorney Susan Steinfeld said the woman's description of the verbal and physical assaults carried out during the rape mirrored the sexual behavior that Mintz exhibited with his wife.

Based on that testimony and evidence, the judge bound over the case for trial.

``I have no doubt that this defendant engaged in the rape,'' said Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Stephen Marcus. ``This defendant found a perfect victim. He saw an opportunity. He also, I think, came to the conclusion that no one would believe her.''

On Thursday, Mintz's attorney, James Blatt, asserted that what was true was the exact opposite of what the judge maintained.

``It just goes to show how people can be deceived,'' Blatt said. ``If anyone was the perfect victim, it was the deputy in this case.''

The woman's former roommate testified Thursday that she confronted her about the accusations months ago - and that she confessed.

``She said, `Kathy, you are right. I did lie about the rape,' '' Kathy Kristatis testified. ``She said that she wanted her ex-husband to feel sorry for her and take her back.''

Blatt said the District Attorney's Office moved swiftly to dismiss the charges once they were handed the new evidence. But he said investigators spent too much time trying to build a case against Mintz and not enough time checking out an accuser of questionable character.

Beyond testimony from the roommate, Mintz's attorneys said they also learned that the alleged victim had filed a false attempted rape report against a waiter in Hawaii in 1994.

Blatt said Mintz met the Calabasas woman only once, while he was on duty outside a store, and she asked him for advice about handling her truant teen-age son.

Four months before Mintz's November 1996 arrest on suspicion of rape, county attorneys agreed to pay the woman $100,000. At the time, Nancy Singer, county claims board chairwoman, said the settlement was based on economics, not the merits of the case.

``The claims board chose to settle this case for economic reasons, considering the potential cost of defending it,'' she said.

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PHOTO (color) Deputy Harris Scott Mintz spent 5 months in jail on charges for a rape he didn't commit.

Evan Yee/Daily News