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Post by TheTruth on Sept 19, 2003 20:44:44 GMT -5
www.vcsd.org/media/07-20-00_arrest.htm Excerpt: "Nature of Incident: Sexual Assault Investigation Location: 6200 Block of W. Ocean Avenue, Ventura County Date & Time: 7/18/00 5:45 PM Unit Responsible: Major Crime Bureau/ Sexual Assault Unit Suspect Age Andrew Stuart Luster 36 On the above date and time, detectives from the Major Crimes Sexual Assault Bureau, along with the assistance of other Sheriff’s deputies and detectives, arrested a male suspect identified as Andrew Stuart Luster for the sexual assault of a 21 year-old female Santa Barbara resident. The investigation of Andrew Luster began this Monday (7/17/00) after the female victim reported to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department that she and a male friend met Luster at a bar located in the City of Santa Barbara this past weekend. The victim and her friend both consumed a drink handed to them by Luster at the Santa Barbara bar. A short while later, they were in a vehicle driving to an unknown location. Neither the victim or her friend remember leaving the bar or getting into Luster’s vehicle. Eventually, Andrew Luster drove them to his residence, which is located in the unincorporated area of northern Ventura County known as " Mussel Shoals." Luster sexually assaulted the victim inside his residence and then gave her an alcoholic drink. After consuming the drink, the victim began to feel unusual side effects and asked Luster if he had placed anything into her drink. Andrew Luster then told the victim that he had placed "Liquid X" into her drink. Luster then proceeded to sexually assault the victim again and throughout the course of the night. Both the victim and her male companion reported only having a limited recall of the events that transpired after meeting Luster and their subsequent contact with him. "Liquid X" is a common slang term used to refer to the illicit drug known as "GHB" – Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate. GHB is also known as a "Date Rape" drug and is used by suspects to commit sexual assaults because the drug causes the victim to lose their ability to resist a sexual assault. Side effects include having only a limited recall of events. This allows the perpetrator to commit the assault and the victim will have little or no recall of the events. On 7/18/00, Detectives arrested Andrew Luster near his residence without incident and a search warrant was served at his residence. The search of his residence led to the seizure of several small bottles of an unknown liquid, a small amount of cocaine, an illegal weapon (nunchaku) along with numerous photographs and homemade videos of other potential unidentified female victims. This evidence indicates that Luster may have sexually assaulted other victims through the use of GHB or other controlled substances. These potential victims may not have known that they were being photographed or videotaped by Luster. Andrew Luster was booked into the Ventura County Main Jail for various drug, weapon and sexual assault charges. He is currently in custody with no bail. The investigation of the suspect is continuing at this time along with efforts to identify the women depicted in the seized photographs and videos. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department is encouraging anyone who has had prior contact with Andrew Luster or knows of anyone who may have been unknowingly sexually assaulted by him to contact the Major Crimes Investigative Bureau. We are also working this case in conjunction with law enforcement officials in both Santa Barbara County and City. Information gathered so far in this investigation has revealed that Luster frequented the UCSB college area and bars located within the City of Santa Barbara. Anyone with additional information can call our office at 654-2340. Booking photographs of Andrew Luster will be available to members of the media and can be picked up at the Sheriff’s Department West Patrol window. Officer Preparing Release: Sergeant Bret Uhlich, Major Crimes, Sexual Assault Bureau Follow-up Contact: Eric Nishimoto, PIO Date of release: July 19, 2000"
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 19, 2003 22:55:00 GMT -5
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/18/national/main559185.shtmlFugitive Cosmetics Heir Guilty Of Rape VENTURA, Calif., Jan. 22, 2003 Andrew Luster (AP) "I have never seen a piece of evidence that would equal the power of those videotapes. They are the most shocking and disturbing things that you will ever see." prosecutor Maeve Fox (CBS) A jury convicted the fugitive heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune on charges of raping three women and drugging two of them at his beach house. Andrew Luster, who fled in the middle of his trial while under house arrest, was found guilty Tuesday of 86 counts that included rape, sodomy, drug and weapons possession and poisoning. The jury deadlocked on one count of poisoning one of the victims. The conviction could put Luster, the 39-year-old great-grandson of Max Factor, in prison for life — if he is captured. "I have no idea where he is," Luster's attorney Roger Diamond told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler. "His departure was a total surprise to me." Prosecutors said Luster took the three women to his Mussel Shoals home in 1996, 1997 and 2000 and raped them after drugging them with gamma hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB — or the date-rape drug — and liquid Ecstasy. Luster was arrested in 2000 after a 21-year-old college student told police he had drugged and assaulted her. During a search of his home, authorities said they found videotapes of Luster apparently having sex with sleeping or unconscious women. Two women in the tapes testified at trial that they willingly took drinks laced with GHB from Luster but never consented to sex. "I have never seen a piece of evidence that would equal the power of those videotapes," Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox said. "They are the most shocking and disturbing things that you will ever see." The defense argued the sex was consensual, and that the women were pretending to be asleep to help Luster film pornographic movies. In an exclusive interview with CBS News' 48 Hours before he disappeared, Luster painted the tapes as innocent fun. "It's one of those fun kind of things you do, you know?" he said. "Break out the video camera, put it on a tripod, let's see what it looks like. Let's videotape ourselves, then watch it. It's fun. A lot of couples do it. It's no big deal." Some of the women testified otherwise, but in the interview, Luster insisted the women agreed to go along. "Everything that transpired between me and my girlfriends has always been consensual," he said. "How can it be consensual if they're not even conscious?" asked CBS News Correspondent Troy Roberts. "Like I said, everything I've ever done with my girlfriends has always been consensual," replied Luster. However, prosecutors argued an unconscious person cannot give consent, and the videos showed women so drugged they had trouble breathing. Luster fled Jan. 3, during a recess in the trial. Judge Ken Riley commented that Luster's flight was well planned and he expressed regret for allowing the defendant to leave his home at times despite the objections of the prosecutor. "I made a mistake," the judge said. "I probably gave Mr. Luster probably an eight- or 12-hour head start on us. His disappearance was well-planned, well-financed and helped by some other parties." Outside court, Diamond urged his client to turn himself in. "He has a very good case on appeal, but as a fugitive he has no right to appeal," Diamond said. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/862089.stmL
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 19, 2003 23:08:54 GMT -5
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3008600.stmMax Factor heir appeals jail term Luster disappeared in January while on trial The lawyer for Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster has appealed against his client's 124-year sentence for rape. Roger Diamond filed his appeal after Luster spent his first night in a US prison following his dramatic recapture in Mexico where he had fled during his trial earlier this year. Mr Diamond, who said he had not seen his client since his arrival at Los Angeles airport on Thursday evening, asked California's Supreme Court to overturn a 10 June ruling by an appellate court denying him the right to an appeal on the grounds that he had jumped bail. He was convicted in his absence on 86 counts of rape, poisoning and drug possession, and received his sentence on 28 February. "I can guarantee you he wants to go forward with an appeal even though I haven't heard from him," Mr Diamond told reporters as he filed his appeal. "It's my intuition." He was challenging the appellate court's ruling, he said, on the grounds that his client was now in custody again and also that the judge at the trial had made a number of "errors". First night in Luster spent his first night in custody at Wasco State Prison under close supervision, placed in a in a two-man cell for his own protection. "It was just a precautionary move... based on the high notoriety of the case..." Lieutenant Troy Ojeda said. "The night went without incident. He slept in a cell and was fine." Luster, 39, was arrested on Wednesday in the Pacific resort of Puerto Vallarta as the US bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman was trying seize him. He had fled the US in January when he jumped his $1m bail. The arrest was made after a couple who had spent time with Luster in Puerto Vallarta contacted the FBI when they returned to the US and realised who he was. The couple also notified Mr Chapman, who is believed to have been hunting Luster since he jumped his bail. Hiding in plain sight Luster disappeared on 3 January, despite being under house arrest and wearing an electronic tag. His car and dog were found later that month. Reports say he had been living in a hotel in Puerto Vallarta for a month - next door to the local office of the federal justice department. He was sentenced in February for raping three women and drugging two of them with the so-called "date rape" drug GHB at his home in California. His lawyers argued during the trial that the sex had been consensual and suggested that Luster may have been kidnapped or had an accident. Luster is the great-grandson of Max Factor, who established a cosmetics empire in 1920s Hollywood. The firm was sold by Max Factor junior in the 1970s.
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 22, 2003 21:32:35 GMT -5
Is prime time TV too coarse? Rapist's video is latest clue Friday, February 21, 2003
By Tracy Wilson, Brian Lowry and Elizabeth Jensen, Los Angeles Times
CBS aired an excerpt Wednesday night of videotapes made by convicted rapist Andrew Luster of his sexual encounters with drugged victims, provoking anger from victims' families and fueling the latest debate over the ethics and legality of increasingly coarse prime time TV programs.
The broadcast came as the networks' sweeps season, which ends Wednesday, is building to a salacious, true-crime flourish. Critics say the networks are engaging in a feeding frenzy for celebrity-based crime stories at a time when the news divisions' energies are needed for the possibility of war in the Persian Gulf.
In addition to the Luster broadcast on "48 Hours Investigates," television has been awash in Michael Jackson's exploits. And next week, ABC's jailhouse interview with murder suspect Robert Blake is scheduled to air opposite CBS' exclusive with "Preppy Murderer" Robert Chambers.
CBS' decision to air excerpts of Luster's tapes angered relatives of some of his victims. Two victims cooperated with the broadcast but were unaware that the network had copies of the tapes.
"I think it is appalling," said the mother of one victim who cooperated. The mother spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid identifying her daughter.
"These girls have been through enough. If [the news crew] honestly found these tapes, they should have turned them over to the district attorney's office and not used them for their TV ratings."
Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of "48 Hours," acknowledged that the Luster tapes are graphic but insisted the network was being "extremely judicious in what we are showing," focusing not on the women's faces or on sex acts but on what Luster is saying.
"We were extremely conscious of the privacy issues involved and have taken great pains not to show anything that would embarrass any of the girls," said Betsy West, CBS News' senior vice president of prime time. She added that despite the pressure of February sweeps, "We would never do anything to compromise our journalistic integrity."
The show included a tape of Luster sitting on a bed with a woman lying behind him, facing away from the camera. As the camera watches, Luster stands up and leans over the bed, touching the back of the woman's upper leg and pulling up her skirt. The video clip ends in mid-motion.
"I dream about this. A strawberry blond, beautiful girl passed out on my bed and basically there to do whatever I choose," he says on the tape.
Luster, the great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor, videotaped himself raping, fondling and in one case sodomizing unconscious women at his beach home in Mussel Shoals in 1996 and 1997. Detectives found the tapes during a search of the house in July 2000 after a University of California, Santa Barbara, student reported that he had raped her there. He asserted that the women had all agreed to have sex with him and be recorded.
He was convicted last month on 86 criminal counts after fleeing on $1 million bail during a trial recess and was sentenced Tuesday to 124 years in prison. He remains a fugitive.
The tapes, which were used as evidence in his trial, were restricted from public viewing by a court order. After Luster fled, they were apparently obtained by his mother, who passed them to CBS. But how Luster had them in his possession remains unclear.
Asked how the network justified using footage shot by a convicted rapist, Zirinsky said: "We obtained footage that was used in a court trial. Andrew Luster claimed that it was consensual; they had done drugs together. The minor amount of tape we use [was] to illustrate him and the truthfulness of what he is claiming."
Network news divisions have sought to boost ratings during sweeps, the key four-week windows in February, May and November that stations rely upon to negotiate advertising rates.
News executives said they accept the demands that sweeps place upon them, understanding that they need to serve the broader needs of the network's schedule.
Neal Shapiro, president of NBC News, said this month's influx of the famous and notorious is "more just a confluence of a lot of big 'gets' to get. They happened to fall in this time period. A couple of months ago, there weren't any; it's not that we stopped going after them."
The competition for major "gets" -- exclusive interviews with elusive newsmakers -- has nevertheless produced plenty of finger-pointing among the networks.
NBC and ABC insiders say Chambers was demanding conditions they refused to meet -- asking for restrictions on the questions that could be asked as well as trying to limit any interviews with the family of victim Jennifer Levin. He also asked for a private jet to take him and his family to the interview, and wanted the interview done "live to tape," or not edited, which tends to give an interview subject more control.
At CBS, Zirinsky said "the people we interview never control the content of our interviews. There was no question we didn't ask in this interview, no stone unturned." She added that she has not felt any pressure to do anything that violates her standards.
Still, Cinny Kennard, a onetime CBS News correspondent who is an assistant professor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication, contends that there has been a slide in news quality, driven in part by the fact that networks are part of huge media conglomerates that see news, in essence, not as a public trust but rather as just another consumer product.
"If you look at any of these stories, the celebrity newsperson goes and gets the star interview," she said. "It's cheap and it's easy" -- especially relative to more complicated issues, such as health care or education, which "are much more important than Michael Jackson and the way he behaves with his kids It's a continuing decline of what a news division is supposed to be."
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 23, 2003 21:09:37 GMT -5
Max Factor heir faces rape and drug charges By Toby Harnden in Washington (Filed: 07/06/2001)
AN heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune was due to appear in a California court yesterday charged with being a serial rapist.
Andrew Luster, 37, was alleged to have drugged women before videotaping himself assaulting them in his beach home. Luster was expected to plead not guilty to 88 counts of rape, sodomy, poisoning, sexual battery and possession of a deadly weapon.
He was released on £700,000 bail in December after spending five months in jail and agreeing to wear an electronic tag. The great-grandson of Max Factor, he was known in the bars and nightclubs of Santa Barbara, California, as a dashing surfer with bright blue eyes and an all-year tan.
He lived on a trust fund believed to be worth about £28 million. But police began to investigate his activities after a 21-year-old woman alleged that he had spiked her drink with Liquid X, a slang term for the "date rape" drug gamma hydroxybutrate or GHB.
Officers searching Luster's home on Ocean Drive in the exclusive community of Mussel Shoals claim that they found photographs and videotapes of him having sex with at least five women who appeared drugged. They also allegedly discovered vials of clear liquid, thought to be GHB, and an AK-47 assault rifle.
In one video, Luster allegedly tells the camera: "I dream about this, a strawberry blonde passed out on my bed waiting for me to do with her what I will." He then turns around and allegedly has sex with a woman one detective described as being "like a toy doll".
Two former girlfriends on the videotapes claim that they had had no idea they were being filmed and had not consented to sex. A third woman was traced after police recognised a distinctive tattoo on her body. Another two alleged victims were also identified. Police claim Luster was a member of an internet group called "The Bachelors", whose members exchanged details of sexual exploits.
The Metropolitan Police has been co-operating with the Californian authorities after Nina Richards, 34, the head of the London-based PR company Wizard, said she woke up naked in an Old Park Lane hotel room after a night out with another Max Factor heir, Davis Factor, in 1998.
She claimed she had been raped by one of his wealthy friends. She waived her right to anonymity and said she was given an alcoholic drink laced with a drug. She said: "I was awake when I was raped but it was like an out-of-body experience." There is no suggestion that Davis Factor was responsible.
Luster grew up in a £1.8 million house in Malibu with his mother Elizabeth, a widow and grand-daughter of Max Factor. Among their near neighbours were Barbra Streisand, the Dallas actor Larry Hagman and Cher.
In 1916, Max Factor, a Russian immigrant, created the first retail cosmetics line and in the 1930s manufactured make-up for such stars as Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn. His company was sold in 1973 for £340 million.
Mrs Luster's share of the fortune was invested in the Luster Family Foundation, which became known for its contributions to animal rights charities. She opened a health and fitness retreat in the Napa Valley and bought the beach home for her son when he was 18.
Luster once started a surfboard company and produced several films but has never held down a steady job. Instead, he spent his days on the beach. A girlfriend bore him two children, now aged nine and five, but the relationship did not last.
James Blatt, Luster's lawyer, said his client was "a law-abiding citizen, not a predator". He said: "What this case really involves is the very fundamental right to privacy in the bedroom and intimacy with one's partner." Mr Blatt said all the sexual activities filmed were consensual.
The pre-trial hearing that started yesterday is expected to last four days. A judge will then decide whether there is enough evidence to proceed with a full trial. Captured heir returns to US 19/06/2003 22:11 - (SA)
Related Articles Max Factor heir caught Make-up heir gets 124yrs Fugitive Max Factor heir convicted Max Factor heir fugitive flees Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Immigration officials said they deported cosmetics heir and convicted rapist Andrew Luster on Thursday to the United States, where his lawyer plans to appeal his rape conviction under a technicality that was to expire in days.
Mexican police arrested Luster, an heir to the Max Factor fortune, on Wednesday after he scuffled with bounty hunters in the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta. Immigration police had been holding him at a detention centre on visa violations.
The police also arrested five other Americans: three bounty hunters, a television cameraman, and another man. Although Mexican police originally said the cameraman told them he worked for "America's Most Wanted", the television show denied that.
"We don't work with bounty hunters, and we don't hire crews to go along with bounty hunters," said the show's spokesperson, Avery Mann.
Mexican officials said Luster lacked the proper visa for his stay in the country. An immigration spokesperson said on customary condition of anonymity that Luster was put on a commercial flight to the United States, and would likely be taken to Los Angeles.
Can pursue the appeal
A California court dismissed Luster's appeal because he was a fugitive, but defence lawyer, Roger Diamond, said the deadline to challenge that decision is Friday.
"Ironically, if he comes back, he can pursue the appeal," the lawyer told "The Today Show" on NBC. "If he remained a fugitive a few months longer he could not pursue the appeal."
While Mexico opposes life sentences and usually refuses to extradite people who could face them, US Embassy spokesperson Jim thingymeyer said Luster's 124-year sentence "does not appear to fit the category that causes concern for them".
Cont.
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 23, 2003 21:10:19 GMT -5
Cont. Luster was staying at a $34-a-night hotel beside a police station in Puerto Vallarta and had just ordered tacos at a street stall when bounty hunters tackled him. The bounty hunters, headed by Duane Lee Chapman - a well-known fugitive chaser who calls himself "Dog" and claims to have collared thousands - are being held in Puerto Vallarta and could face charges ranging from entering Mexico illegally to kidnapping. The trio apparently included Chapman's son and grandson. Consensual sex Diamond said his client has always insisted he is innocent and that he had consensual sex with the women. "If you saw the movie 'The Fugitive' ... you will note that not everybody who flees is guilty," Diamond told NBC. In January, a California court convicted and sentenced Luster in absentia to 124 years for multiple counts of rape, poisoning and drug possession a few days after he vanished during a recess in the trial, despite posting $1m in bail. Once he returns to California, Luster would be sent to state prison while he pursues his appeals just like any other convicted felon, his lawyer said. Local police spokesperson Sebastian Zavala said Luster had been living in Puerto Vallarta for about a month. Bounty hunters tracked him down shortly after 05:00 on Wednesday about two blocks from the beach at an open-air taco stand. "I didn't know if it was a kidnapping or a movie," said Alberto Franco, 26, who was working at the petrol station across the street. Taco stand worker Giovanni Balbuena said the bounty hunters threatened Luster with tear gas, wrestled what appeared to be handcuffs on him and drove away in two cars. Franco said taxi drivers notified local police. Police caught up with the fleeing cars about 2km northwest of town and arrested the lot, according to Zavala. Bounty hunter cases have been politically sensitive in Mexico since 1990, when American authorities employed them to kidnap a doctor accused of involvement in the torture and murder of Enrique Camarena, an agent with the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Picture on television An American couple who met Luster in Puerto Vallarta saw his picture on television after they returned home and tipped off the FBI and a bounty hunter, said FBI spokesperson Laura Bosley. The FBI had an agent en route to Puerto Vallarta when the bounty hunters reached him first, agency spokesperson, Matt Mclaughlin, told "The Early Show" on CBS. Luster apparently spent the days before his arrest surfing and staying at the Motel Los Angeles. The hotel manager, Oscar Lopez, described Luster as a "very cultured" and friendly man who spoke excellent Spanish. He gave the fugitive a discount because he had stayed there a year earlier. Police led Luster past the other detainees out of the city jail to a federal holding cell. One of the alleged bounty hunters, who identified himself as Duane Chapman, shouted to reporters that police were treating him well and asked them to send greetings to his wife. Ventura Country Sheriff Bob Brooks said he believed that none of the bail money would be going to the bounty hunter, who in previous television interviews had vowed to catch Luster. The men who captured the fugitive heir may be eligible to collect the $10 000 reward for his capture. Authorities said Luster, who lived off a trust fund and real estate investments, took three women to his home between 1996 and 2000 and raped them after giving them the so-called date-rape drug GHB. Some of the encounters were videotaped. - Sapa-AP archive.mail-list.com/privacyworld/msg00048.htmlVictim of Max Factor rapist awarded £12m By Hugh Davies in Los Angeles (Filed: 18/08/2003) The behaviour of Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir, was so "perverse and despicable" as he drugged and raped women while gleefully narrating his exploits before a video camera, that a judge has awarded his first victim civil damages of $19 million (£12.17 million). Judge Frederick Bysshe said at Ventura, California, that his harshness in dealing with the former millionaire playboy was a warning to others thinking of using the "date-rape" drug, gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB. Luster: trust fund in debt He said that Luster's narration at the beginning of the tape, while the woman was lying unconscious behind him on a bed, revealed "a man exulting in the helplessness of his victim, a man totally lacking in a moral compass". Luster, the 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor, jumped his $1 million bail in January, shortly before a jury convicted him in absentia of attacking three women at his mansion, on a beach at Mussel Shoals, near Los Angeles. After a bounty hunter captured him in Mexico in May, he was returned to California to begin a 124-year sentence at a state prison in Monterey. Luster prowled night clubs and trendy bars, giving young women water while they were dancing, laced with the drug GHB, which impairs memory. He then took them home, offering them thingytails containing more GHB. Identified only as Shawna from Oxnard, near Santa Barbara, the woman said that she had no idea that Luster had raped her in 1997 when she was 17, until detectives showed her a videotape that they had seized at his home three years ago while investigating another sexual assault. On the tape, Luster is seen sitting on the edge of a bed, saying to the camera: "Some people dream about Christmas, Thanksgiving, getting together with friends. I dream about this, a strawberry blonde, a beautiful girl, passed out on my bed and basically there for me to do whatever I choose." Luster disrobed her and twice engaged in sexual intercourse. As the woman snored, he made lewd remarks, and leered at the camera. The woman testified that she was unable to remove the images from her mind, and remained under therapy for depression and anxiety. She explained that her plight had been made worse when part of the tape was obtained by a CBS news crew and played on national television. She said: "I don't remember the last time I was genuinely happy. There is not a day that goes by that I don't remember what's on that video. It's really disturbing." Just how much she will actually recover in damages is debatable. Chase Manhattan Bank documents used by Luster to lower his bail showed that his trust fund, thought by police to be worth $31 million, was in debt by $204,875.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 19:11:13 GMT -5
Lifetime for Luster Television for Women network tackles videotape rape case; movie airs Monday Ventura County Star By Dave Mason August 8, 2003
The music is loud at a noisy Santa Barbara bar, and the dance floor is packed. Connie Doe is there with her best friend, Daniel (not their real names), and a handsome stranger offers her what looks like an innocent glass of water.
Soon everything's a blur, and Connie finds herself in the middle of the night at the Mussel Shoals home of the stranger, Andrew Luster.
Not knowing what she's doing, the drugged woman takes off her dress and dives into the cold ocean outside his home, while Daniel tries to stop her. Luster just laughs and says, "You go, party girl!"
Freezing, she gets out of the water and takes a hot shower at Luster's home. And that's when he rapes her.
That's the beginning of "A Date With Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster," a movie premiering at 9 p.m. Monday on the Lifetime channel. It's based in large part on the transcripts of the Ventura County Superior Court case against Luster, the Max Factor heir and convicted rapist who implicated himself by videotaping himself having sex with unconscious women.
The movie is fact-based, "but certain scenes are fictional," executive producer Larry Thompson said.
Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for Wasco State Prison, where Luster is spending his 124-year prison term, said Luster won't be watching the movie: "They don't get Lifetime."
During phone interviews, prosecutors and a victim's attorney say that if done right, the cable movie could promote awareness of the dangers of the rape drug GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), which Luster put in his victims' drinks. None of the lawyers had seen the film, directed by Bobby Roth from a script by Christopher Canaan (who also wrote the TV miniseries "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story").
"It depends on how they treat the subject," said Maeve Fox, a Ventura County senior deputy district attorney who successfully prosecuted Luster. "If approached with sensitivity, it could educate people about GHB. If they sensationalize it, I would be offended."
Barry Novack, the lawyer who represented the victim known by the fictional name of Shawna Doe in the trial, said he hopes the film will make women more aware of the drug and its effects.
"You have no memory, no awareness," Novack said. "If they had never found (Luster's videotapes), they would have never known. That shows how potent the drug is."
Jamie Zuieback, communications director of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, put it this way: "Imagine waking up; you're in a strange place, your clothes are on. You feel something may have happened; maybe you've been attacked, but you have no memory of the attack."
In one scene, Connie, played by former "Practice" star Marla Sokoloff, protects another woman's drink while she's away from the bar. "Never leave your drink unattended; bad things can happen," Connie tells the woman after she herself had become a victim.
Jason Gedrick of the NBC police series "Boomtown" stars as Luster, and Sarah Carter and Stefanie von Pfetten play the other victims, Sarah Doe and Teri Doe, respectively.
Thompson, the executive producer, said he decided to further protect the victims' anonymity by referring to them by different fictional names than those used in the Ventura County Superior Court case.
Luster was convicted in absentia on Jan. 21, on 86 felony counts of rape of an unconscious person, sexual battery, poisoning and other crimes, several weeks after he had jumped bail and fled the country.
Since his capture by bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman on June 18 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Luster has started serving his sentence at Wasco State Prison, with little chance of parole.
A preview tape shows the Lifetime movie skipping any back story on Luster -- whose great-grandfather was cosmetics mogul Max Factor -- and getting right to a rape.
The scene is shown quickly, from the shoulders up. The movie repeats the scene later to show the emotional impact on the victim. Also shown briefly is a bedroom scene, again from the shoulders up, while Luster, narrating the scene, tells a Ventura County Sheriff's detective the sex was consensual.
"My biggest concern would be for the victims," Fox, the prosecutor, said about the reenactment. "I don't know how I would feel from their perspective -- probably more violated."
Novack said the producers didn't contact his client about the film.
"When what the victims go through is shown on TV, it probably puts salt in the wound," he said. "I'll have to see it in context, but I think to have a reenactment is going to be difficult for the victims."
He compared it to how parents would feel if they saw a TV reenactment of their child being suffocated.
And any of the victims might think the woman being raped in the scene is her, Novack said.
William Daniels, the attorney representing victim Tonja Doe (again, not her real name), couldn't be reached for comment.
Zuieback of RAINN said she has seen the script and clips of the movie and her organization supports the movie. She said her experience with movies on Lifetime -- promoted as "Television for Women" -- is that they treat the subject of rape with sensitivity.
Lifetime will show RAINN's hotline number, (800) 656-HOPE, after the film, Zuieback said. She added that the hotline's calls increase by 350 to 400 percent when Lifetime does that.
In addition to the rape, the movie features reenactments of Luster's videotapes showing him talking about the drugged women as they lay unconscious on a bed behind him. The camera leaves the videotape reenactment to show the horror on the face of prosecutor Fox, played by Lisa Edelstein ("Felicity"), as she watches Luster rape the unconscious Sarah and Teri in the film. Those rapes aren't shown but are implied as Fox watches and we listen to Luster in the act.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 19:12:24 GMT -5
In the phone interview, the real Fox noted the real videotapes are sealed and can't be shown on TV. She added that after the state Supreme Court decides whether to hear the appeal (which she doubts will happen), she will petition to get the tapes destroyed.
The tapes that recently were shown on the CBS newsmagazine "48 Hours" were supplied by Luster's mother, Fox said.
"My client was extremely upset when CBS aired '48 Hours,' " Novack said.
Fox said she knew she would win the case when she saw Luster's videotapes.
"This is the guiltiest guy I've ever seen," she said. "I came into this case late and watched the videotapes. I knew I had better not lose this one; this is the strongest case I had ever seen. If you see him you're convinced, not just beyond a reasonable doubt but beyond any doubt that this guy is a sexual predator and he's guilty."
Fox said she and Deputy District Attorney Tony Wold, played by Kavan Smith in the movie, were asked a couple questions by the producers, who then spent a lot of time reviewing the court transcripts. The film was shot entirely in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, as part of Hollywood's trend to produce TV movies and series in Canada because of lower labor and production costs.
Victoria is on Vancouver Island, and it was easier to make that area look like Santa Barbara and Ventura County than nearby Vancouver, where many TV projects are produced, Thompson said.
"I was certainly surprised to learn how quickly a movie about something so recent could be turned out," Wold said.
Novack echoed that. "The ink hasn't dried but, well, there's a lot of press on this, especially with his escape to Mexico."
Fox expressed her surprise, too. "I can't believe they're making a movie," she said. "Honestly, I don't understand the interest in the whole case. The halls outside the courtroom were packed with the media for the bail hearing (Tuesday). I don't get it.
"It's because he's some rich guy, and it's very unusual for a GHB case to be prosecuted successfully. Usually the evidence isn't there."
GHB leaves the body within 12 hours after it's consumed, so it's crucial for any woman who thinks she might have been raped to be tested immediately, Zuieback said.
Larry Thompson Entertainment and Lifetime had started shooting the movie while Luster was on the run, and his capture came when five days were left on the filming schedule. A new ending was quickly written, and the film shows Luster's capture by Chapman and his associates in front of a Puerto Vallarta taco stand. The group was played by stuntmen, who have no lines in the film.
The film also features Luster's "payback" list featuring the names of Fox and others. While covering the story in Puerto Vallarta, Ventura County Star reporter Aron Miller discovered the list in Luster's motel room.
Roger Jon Diamond, Luster's attorney, questioned Lifetime's decision to complete a film before the state Supreme Court rules on whether to hear an appeal. "The story's not yet over," he said.
Fox disagreed: "(Diamond) is ever the optimist, isn't he? It's over. My hope is the victims can put this behind them.
"I think Mr. Diamond has an incredibly slim chance of getting the Supreme Court to hear this thing," she said.
Diamond said that no one from the movie talked with him and that he didn't know Lifetime was making a movie. "To the extent that they did not contact the people involved, it's not going to be accurate," said Diamond, who is played by Tom Butler in the movie.
Thompson explained why he picked Gedrick to portray Luster: "It was very important to cast an actor who was nice-looking, affable, who had a sense of charm about him.
"If we had cast Andrew Luster as a dark and sinister guy, the viewers would be saying, 'Why are the women hanging around this guy?' Jason plays him as a charming, fun guy, a partying guy. We surf, we do a little drugs, sex with a videotape; it's just a little fun.
"The women saw him as a fun guy."
Before playing Luster, Gedrick researched the part by talking with Fox and Ventura County residents who knew him.
"He had insecurity, had a fear of rejection, lived a very simple life," Gedrick said. "A typical day for him was surfing and trying to date women.
"Women were dying to hang out with him. If for any reason they blew him off, it had a disturbing effect on him.
"A lot of people in the community liked him."
But, Gedrick added, those close to Luster saw his flaws. "Maybe he seemed a little arrogant and full of himself."
Gedrick noted Luster had a relationship with one woman he had date-raped on the first date. Drugged by GHB, the woman didn't know about the rape until she saw Luster's videotape, and that's shown in the Lifetime film.
"Now that he had a date rape, it gave him the confidence to be in a relationship," Gedrick said.
"If I had a two-hour feature film, I would have fought for more of the history (about Luster). We had limited time," he said.
The Lifetime film lasts 90 minutes minus commercials.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 19:39:49 GMT -5
2 nations: Who helped Luster? U.S., Mexico will follow paper trail Ventura County Star By Brad Smith June 25, 2003
U.S. and Mexican authorities are cooperating in an effort to learn who, if anyone, might have assisted convicted rapist and cosmetics heir Andrew Luster during the five months he spent on the run before being arrested in Puerto Vallarta last week.
Of particular interest is the personal property Luster left in a hotel in the resort town, including a journal with the names of the three women Luster was convicted of raping -- listed under the heading "PAYBACK" -- and the names of investigators and prosecutors.
The journal also includes references to other individuals, some of whom might have helped Luster during his flight, and to ongoing financial deals.
To get the material, however, American investigators have to go through Mexican authorities, under provisions of the U.S.-Mexican Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.
"The FBI does not have any law enforcement authority in Mexico," Agent Robert Mack, who runs the FBI's Ventura office, said Tuesday. "We can't go knock on a door and seize personal property. We have to abide by the laws we have in the U.S. and the laws in a foreign country."
In January, Luster, a 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics king Max Factor, was convicted in absentia on 86 criminal counts for the rapes of three women inside his home in Mussel Shoals, north of Ventura.
A Ventura County jury found Luster had drugged all three women and videotaped two of the rapes of the unconscious women. He was sentenced to 124 years in state prison.
He had fled house arrest weeks before the verdict, jumping $1 million bail, but was taken into custody by Mexican police after being captured by American bounty hunters.
His defense attorney, Roger Diamond, has petitioned both the state Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court to reconsider Luster's case.
The state Attorney General's Office has said Luster lost his right to an appeal when he fled.
"We're covering all of our bases, essentially," Diamond said Tuesday. "We are not fighting over the merits of the appeal, but only if he has the right to appeal."
If either court finds that Luster has a right to appeal, the case could take the rest of the year to litigate, attorneys said.
Diamond has yet to speak with his client, who is in custody at Wasco State Prison near Bakersfield. Another defense attorney has spoken with Luster, however, Diamond said.
"He was very grateful that I had filed the notice of appeal, because if it had not been done, he'd have no chance at all," Diamond said.
The contents of the property Luster left in Mexico will have no bearing on his appeals, Diamond said.
"The whole thing about the notebook is legally irrelevant to the criminal case," Diamond said. "I guess Luster may have a right to a civil suit against the people who took it, (but) I'm concentrating solely on the appeal."
Luster's property, including clothing, two surfboards and a video camera, were in the motel room he had rented in Puerto Vallarta. The hotel manager allowed a reporter and photographer from the Ventura County Star to view the room the day after Luster was picked up on the street by the bounty hunter.
By Saturday, the motel manager said no Mexican or American authorities had inquired about the belongings and they were moved to a basement storage area. The manager took reporters and photographers, including representatives of CBS, NBC and the Ventura County Star, to the storage area to show them the belongings.
The Star noticed a spiral-bound notebook in a duffel bag full of Luster's clothing and other belongings and asked the manager for permission to look at the notebook. He allowed The Star and NBC to look at the 13-page journal. The reporters then returned it to the manager.
On Sunday, the day The Star was the first to report the contents of the journal, including the "payback" list, the manager told The Associated Press the reporters had taken the journal out of the trash in Luster's room and that the motel staff later threw it away.
The FBI's resident agents in Mexico -- called legal attaches -- must go through the U.S. Justice and State departments and the Mexican federal authorities to invoke the provisions of the mutual assistance treaty, officials said.
Even then, the local Mexican authorities -- in the city of Puerto Vallarta or the state of Jalisco, in the Luster case -- need to go to a Mexican jurist for a warrant.
"Once it is in their hands, we would expect the Mexican authorities will allow FBI agents to review it," Mack said.
If the property has been destroyed, the FBI would try to get to anyone who aided Luster through other means.
"It would be a very nice thing to have, if it still does exist," Mack said. "But we can probably work around it, just by following the paper trail."
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 20:24:44 GMT -5
Authorities now seek Luster's accomplices Ventura County Star By Dani Dodge June 21, 2003
Authorities never expected fugitive rapist Andrew Luster to last very long on the lam.
"He didn't have the background that enabled him to do that," said Robert Mack, the supervising special agent in Ventura County FBI office. "He grew up as someone who didn't have to hold a job. It's difficult for someone in that lifestyle to think about 'Oh, now I'm now a fugitive' and 'How do I keep law enforcement away?' "
So now, even though Luster is in prison, the investigation into his flight from justice is continuing. Most likely someone helped Luster evade police, and authorities want to bring that person in.
"We're certainly interested in unraveling the mystery of who helped Mr. Luster and how," said Maeve Fox, a Ventura County senior deputy district attorney, "and when we do that ... we will work in conjunction with federal authorities to convict whoever is so deserving."
Assisted by Ventura County sheriff's deputies and the District Attorney's Office, FBI agents in Mexico and Southern California are retracing Luster's steps from the time he cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet nearly six months ago to his re-apprehension Wednesday after he was picked up by a bad-boy bounty hunter in Puerto Vallarta.
Luster, 39, of Mussel Shoals was first arrested in July 2000 when a Santa Barbara woman reported that he had drugged and raped her. More women quickly came forward. Luster was out on bail when his trial began in December. Before it was over, he had fled. The jury convicted him of 86 counts related to drugging and raping three women and videotaping the attacks. He was sentenced to 124 years in prison.
Since his escape, Luster has been hunted by FBI, Ventura County sheriff's deputies, and bounty hunters. At least part of the time, he'd been living in a $30-a-night-Mexican motel with surfboards and a video camera in his room. Wednesday, he was getting a taco from a street stand when Hawaiian bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman tackled him. Mexican police caught up with Chapman, his crew and Luster, as they drove away in an SUV. All of them were taken into custody. Bounty hunters can't legally operate in Mexico.
Authorities don't think Luster got that far on his own.
"Driving down to Mexico is no big deal, but what do you do when you get there? How do you live? Everything now is tracked and traceable," Mack said. "A person who is not experienced in obtaining a false ID would have a difficult time to remain a fugitive for a long period of time; so the logical thought process is someone may have been helping him."
Mack and Ventura County Sheriff's Department spokesman Eric Nishimoto declined to name specific suspects.
"It would be difficult for any individual to escape like he did without some type of help," Nishimoto said. "It's certainly a possibility we will find someone who was involved."
Federal charges are possible. Fox said other possible charges include "being an accessory after the fact" or "obstruction of justice."
"Prison is definitely a possibility," she said. "It is felony behavior."
Just giving the guy a sandwich, though, probably wouldn't land someone in the slammer.
"It would have to be conscious and egregious activity," Mack said. "More than just him showing up at your doorstep and saying 'Can you hold my bags for a few weeks?' "
Mack said this kind of after-the-fact investigation is fairly routine.
"Just as in any type of crime committed: bank robbery, carjacking," Mack said, "you not only look at people who initiated the crime, but you also look at people who helped them commit the crime or cover it up."
In this case, it will probably be a matter of doing interviews and following the "paper trail," Mack said.
"You just think logically," Mack said. "You are going to spend money and make phone calls, and that's the way you would normally retrace steps."
Although neither Mack nor Nishimoto could give a definite time for completing the investigation, Nishimoto said, "It can't take too long."
When it's over, Luster could have company.
"I hope there are some people out there getting sweaty brows now," Fox said, "and perhaps didn't sleep too well last night."
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 20:29:28 GMT -5
Gina Ferazzi / AP
Convicted rapist Andrew Luster, center, is led out of the U.S. Customs building after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday from Mexico, where he was captured by bounty hunters.
Luster goes to prison Authorities escort convicted rapist from LAX to Wasco
By David Montero Ventura County Star June 20, 2003
Convicted rapist Andrew Luster began serving the first day of his 124-year sentence Thursday afternoon at Wasco State Prison after being on the lam for five months in Mexico, authorities said.
Handcuffed and wearing a thin, blue shirt, the 39-year-old Max Factor cosmetics heir was escorted by Ventura County sheriff's deputies from an inbound commercial flight at Los Angeles International Airport to the prison just north of Bakersfield. Maeve Fox, a Ventura County deputy district attorney involved with Luster's prosecution, said she had been worried when he escaped and was relieved when she heard of his capture.
However, Fox said, she doesn't take any glee in Luster's sentence.
"I've never expressed happiness that somebody gets a prison sentence like that and is faced with serving it," she said, "but there is a price to be paid for what he did, and I'm relieved he was caught."
Fox also said the District Attorney's Office would not file charges against Luster for jumping bail. Those charges could have added three years to his prison term, she said.
Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said there was simply no point to bringing forth those charges.
"It wouldn't really serve the interest of justice to spend the money for him to face a minor charge when he's already facing 124 years in prison," Brooks said.
Luster's journey from fugitive in Puerto Vallarta to cuffed convict at Wasco State Prison began Wednesday, when bounty hunters led by Duane "Dog" Chapman captured him near a taco stand.
After a short stint in a Mexican prison, Luster was quickly deported to the United States and flew on a commercial airline that landed at LAX around 12:45 p.m. Thursday.
On the flight, according to The Associated Press, a passenger observed that Luster appeared distraught.
Mike Levy, a surf photographer who was on the Aero California flight, said Luster looked like "he was blown away."
After landing, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation turned Luster over to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.
According to Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections, the Sheriff's Department is responsible for transporting convicts to one of the state's eight prisons that have reception centers. Wasco State Prison is the reception center used by the Sheriff's Department to process prisoners into the system.
Lt. Troy Ojeda, the prison's spokesman, said Luster arrived at 4:15 p.m., and officers immediately began processing him. Ojeda said Luster's processing could take anywhere from 45 to 90 days.
He also said it was unlikely Luster would end up serving out his term at Wasco, which has a relatively small full-time prison population.
As a part of his evaluation, Luster will be checked out medically and psychologically. The length of his prison sentence and the nature of his crime will determine what level prisoner he will be considered.
Level 1 is the lowest security level and Level 4 is the highest. Russ Heimerich, a Corrections Department spokesman, said Luster would likely be Level 4, based on his January escape.
Out of the state's 32 active prisons, 16 are capable of handling Level 4 prisoners. Heimerich said he couldn't speculate on which prison Luster would end up at.
"We always have the light on, and we'll find a spot for him," Heimerich said.
Thornton said it costs taxpayers on average $28,502 a year to house an inmate. At that rate, if Luster lived to be 80, he would cost more than $1.16 million.
Meanwhile, Luster's attorney is doing everything possible to keep him out of the state prison system entirely.
Attorney Roger Jon Diamond will file papers in court today seeking the reinstatement of an appeal on the 86 rape counts. Luster was convicted Jan. 21 after being tried in absentia.
Diamond's secretary, Judy Burgdorf, said the deadline for the paperwork is today.
Luster's trial began Dec. 16 after Superior Court Judge Bruce Clark followed a ruling to reduce his bail from $10 million to $1 million. Luster and his family paid for the bond in cash, and Luster was placed on house arrest in his home in Mussel Shoals. He then fled in the middle of his trial, on Jan. 3.
The trial continued and featured testimony from three rape victims and graphic movies of Luster having sex with them while they were passed out. Luster used GHB -- also known as the date-rape drug -- to carry out his acts.
For months after his disappearance, the victims and law enforcement asked the public for help tracking Luster down. Chapman took up the hunt on his own.
Coincidentally, an American couple who met Luster in Puerto Vallarta recognized him on television after they returned home. The couple called the FBI and Chapman, authorities said.
Chapman got to Luster first, but the man known as Dog was then captured himself by Mexican authorities. They arrested him and several associates on kidnapping charges.
Neither the FBI nor the Sheriff's Department would condone Chapman's actions, but Fox said she's grateful for what he did.
"I know his methods were unconventional, and we don't condone that behavior, but I know there are least three women who are very thankful that he caught them," Fox said.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 20:32:30 GMT -5
Luster fished, surfed, downed $30 tequila Motel los Angeles manager says he didn't tip
By Aron Miller Ventura County Star June 20, 2003
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico -- During his last few days of freedom, Andrew Luster lived a simple existence of fishing, surfing and tequila, according to the snapshot into that world his $30-a-night motel room provided.
In the two-room residence at Motel los Angeles in the hills overlooking this seaside tourist town, Luster kept two fishing poles against the wall near his queen-sized bed, a small boom box in the corner and two surfboards with accompanying covers on the floor in the adjacent den.
"Please do not touch these boards," he wrote in a note to the motel staff.
On his sink in Room 20 sat a spoon, fork and sharp fishing knife. Nearby was the $30 bottle of Cazadores tequila, a local, higher-end brand.
Also, a video camera and tripod stood in another corner of the bedroom, staples of Luster's rape sessions back home in Mussel Shoals.
Only the Max Factor heir himself knows what he did during his three days in this motel and this city known for revelry, and during his nearly six months on the loose.
From what the locals here said Thursday, he acted seriously, showed his face infrequently and spoke Spanish like a native. The millionaire great-grandson of the cosmetics giant also stiffed the motel help on tips.
"Nothing to no one" is how motel manager Isabel Carrillo described Luster's lack of love with the peso. "Now that I know who he is, I'm a little mad."
His accommodations changed drastically when American bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman and his crew grabbed Luster off a downtown street corner and hustled him into an SUV.
A few hours later, after Mexican police caught up with the group, Luster and the rest found themselves in a local jail in the nearby town of Las Juntas.
Luster's cell, which he shared with five strangers, was particularly unwelcoming, with cement floors, no bed, a toilet in the corner and graffiti about the devil covering the walls, perhaps a symbolic scene for a man on his way to serving a 124-year prison sentence.
He spent about 24 hours there and paid for his own food, police officials there said. He also asked for an attorney.
As authorities flew him back to California Thursday, the five men involved in his capture remained behind bars, awaiting a judge's decision today regarding their fate.
They were arrested on suspicion of depriving someone of his freedom, a less-serious charge than kidnapping, said Juaquin Fortuna, a Guadalajara attorney representing freelance videographer Boris Krutonog.
A judge could drop the charges, considering that some in the United States see the men as heroes for capturing one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, or they could face a fine or the maximum of four years in jail, Fortuna said.
During a bizarre news conference, at least by American standards, officials at state police headquarters here led out the five men one by one to speak to a throng of local and international media.
Chapman, the group's leader, looked haggard and sunburned and seemed less than thrilled to talk about his ordeal.
"I can't say anything about Luster," the Dog barked.
"Why not?" a reporter asked.
"Because I'm not. Nothing about Luster. That's it. I'm done."
And he stomped back to his cell.
Jeff Sells, a Los Angeles freelance television producer who was among the five in jail, was more accommodating, saying, "I work in reality TV, and this is about as real as it gets."
He also praised Chapman and his brother and son.
"They are heroes," Sells said. "I mean, they took a rapist off the streets. If we've saved one girl from getting raped, me spending four days in jail, it's absolutely worth it."
It was unclear if the crew videotaped the capture at Mexico and Honduras avenues. Sells said he couldn't remember because it happened so fast, and if he did, he had no idea what happened to the tape or his camera equipment.
"I didn't expect anything to happen," he said. "I was just down here on a hunch."
None of the men would answer questions about how they found Luster or how their hunt took them to Mexico. Chapman's son, Leland, and Sells said the group had been in the country about one week.
Duane Chapman, for one, was staying a few rooms away at the Motel los Angeles in Room 24 the day before he caught Luster, Carrillo said.
His timing proved fortunate. According to one of Luster's friends, Oscar Lopez, he planned to move to Chiapas, a few hundred miles away, this weekend.
Luster wanted to build a home in the rural, far-away state because he was fond of its people and artwork, Lopez said.
Where he stayed before his three nights at Motel los Angeles remains a mystery. Shampoo, hand lotion and soap from the Puerto Vallarta Holiday Inn sat neatly on his bathroom shelf, but a manager at the hotel chain denied Luster had been there.
Wherever he was, the women of Puerto Vallarta are sleeping a little easier, or, as Krutonog put it, "I think the streets of Mexico are a little bit safer now than they were a few days ago."
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 20:35:54 GMT -5
Luster's arrest was goal, not race with bounty hunter By Gary Auer August 17, 2003
Re: Editor Tim Gallagher's Aug. 10 essay, "No pay for a Dog's work":
Gallagher writes, "If the law were based on popular sentiment and not logic, Duane "Dog" Chapman would have $350,000 today."
Thankfully, in the Ventura County courts, logic does matter. Gallagher wrote, Judge Edward Brodie determined "Chapman was acting on his own. He was not an official bail recovery agent ... bounty hunters are supposed to formally agree with bail bondsmen or police and have a clean criminal record ... they are supposed to follow local laws when they capture the criminals on the run."
The court, and even The Star, recognized logic: "Chapman failed on these accounts."
So, what of "sentiment," whether it be "popular" or reflective of the views of The Star? Let us be clear about Duane "Dog" Chapman's actions, which have received such laudatory coverage in The Star. This bounty hunter rounded up his own little posse, complete with video crew, and entered a foreign nation on a personal fugitive hunt. Without contacting the local police, he stages a kidnapping on Mexican streets, and attempts to flee.
How would The Star characterize the "popular sentiment" if a Mexican bounty hunter conducted similar operations on the streets of Ventura? What are The Star's views on the "popular sentiment" in Mexico to the arrogant American who had so little concern for the niceties of Mexican sovereignty?
The saga of the Andrew Luster search seems to be a continuing fixation of the editorial page. Not a word from The Star about fugitive Ventura County murderers found and returned by the FBI, such as Armando Balderama, convicted and sentenced to 29 years to life Jan. 27, after being arrested and returned from Mexico; or Roberto Lagunas, arrested in Alabama on Jan. 31 and now awaiting trial.
We are told, in the headline no less, the "DA, sheriff get reimbursed for not finding Luster." Cute, but not at all accurate.
The sheriff's office and district attorney submitted the claim for reimbursement of expenses in accordance with California law. We did not "whine to the judge" as so colorfully characterized by The Star. We submitted, through the County Counsel's Office, documentation to recover expenses, and the court concurred.
The Star's gratuitous and inflammatory language does, however, dramatically highlight The Star's editorial bias and willingness to ignore the facts.
With the exception of terrorism cases, the U.S. government does not claim authority to conduct fugitive investigations in foreign lands. It seeks the support of foreign police agencies, whose priorities often differ from those of the FBI, or even, The Star.
The local FBI office, the District Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Department are not in the business of making forays into Mexico, Thailand, Canada, Cuba, the United Kingdom, or various South Seas Islands, all of which were reported locations for Luster.
FBI agents based overseas assist local American police agencies and prosecutors by soliciting investigative support from foreign police agencies. FBI agents in Mexico, who, as a result of Chapman's kidnapping fiasco, had to be pulled off a fugitive murder investigation with Mexican authorities, had an immediate mission, and they accomplished it.
The Chapman escapade created considerable controversy in Mexico, leading to the likelihood the Mexican government would insist Luster's case go through a formal extradition process, which might well have delayed, or as a result of his long sentence, precluded his return to the United States.
Working closely with Mexican authorities, the FBI successfully sought a decision that permitted the immediate deportation of Luster. As for the "FBI took its time getting to the motel manager who then claimed he had tossed the diary in the trash," well, very misleading.
The FBI agent in Mexico had no authority to contact the motel manager. Mexican police were later asked to obtain the diary; however, their position was that Luster had violated no laws in Mexico, thus there was no basis for any police action to obtain the diary.
Further, at least until the detention of Luster by Mexican authorities, the exclusive focus of the federal investigation was his return to the United States, not the recovery of a diary or other personal property.
"Public sentiment" should recognize what really happened here. One of the investigative avenues pursued was to utilize the media's interest in this case (sex and money obviously sells). That press coverage resulted in identical information being provided to the FBI and Chapman.
For the FBI, the Luster case was one of thousands of local fugitive cases on which it was assisting, in addition to its own substantial case responsibilities. For the FBI, this was not some childish game of who gets Luster first. As I told Court TV early in the investigation, the goal was the arrest of Luster, and not a race with Chapman. Chapman could head off with his posse at any time, while the FBI response, two days behind Chapman, was based on recognition that complying with Mexican law is a cornerstone of its responsibilities, and that the Luster matter was not necessarily the most important matter being handled by American, or Mexican, law enforcement.
Los Angeles sportscaster Jim Healey used to tell listeners, "I don't make them up, pally." But in Ventura County, the fraudulent creation of "popular sentiment" seems to have become an art form on The Star editorial pages.
-- Gary Auer is chief of the Bureau of Investigation of the Ventura County District Attorney's Office and a former FBI supervisor.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 20:38:28 GMT -5
Convicted rapist Luster can't appeal, court rules By Aron Miller Ventura County Star June 12, 2003
Serial rapist and fugitive Andrew Luster cannot appeal his conviction while he remains at large, an appellate court has ruled.
In a one-page order issued Tuesday, the 2nd District Court of Appeal, 6th Division, in Ventura dismissed the Max Factor heir's appeal.
His attorney, Roger Diamond of Los Angeles, had filed an appeal in April. The state Attorney General's Office then filed a motion to dismiss the appeal in May, saying Luster had no such rights because he was a fugitive.
The appellate justices agreed with Deputy Attorney General Joseph Lee and dismissed the appeal.
Despite the setback, Diamond is expected to appeal the decision to the California Supreme Court. He did not return phone calls Wednesday seeking comment.
There also apparently is a window for Luster to appeal if he returns to Ventura County, based on a recent court decision. But it wasn't clear if that would apply to this case, Lee said.
"That's an issue for another day, if and when Mr. Luster is caught," he said.
A jury found Luster, 39, guilty of 86 criminal counts in connection with the rapes of three women inside his Mussel Shoals home. He drugged all three women and videotaped two of the rapes of the unconscious women.
He fled his trial during a Christmas break and remains on the loose. In February, a judge sentenced him to 124 years in prison.
Defendants typically have 60 days to appeal the outcome of a case. Diamond filed his appeal before the deadline, but Tuesday's order dismissed it.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 24, 2003 20:41:35 GMT -5
Luster's lawyer presses appeal of conviction State justices tell Roger Diamond to take case back to lower court
By Brad Smith, bsmith@insidevc.com June 21, 2003
LOS ANGELES -- Convicted rapist and Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster might appeal his 124-year sentence by arguing that authorities committed multiple errors in the course of the case, his attorney said Friday.
Defense attorney Roger Diamond has yet to speak with his client, who was returned to U.S. custody Thursday after being on the run for five months.
Luster was found in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta by a group of American bounty hunters and arrested by Mexican police.
"I believe he has about 25 or 30 legal grounds to argue his trial was not fair, and ask for a retrial," Diamond said. "If you have an unfair trial, the appellate court will reverse it."
Diamond filed a request Friday in Los Angeles asking the state Supreme Court to consider whether Luster can appeal his conviction in absentia on 86 criminal counts in connection with the rapes of three women inside his Mussel Shoals home.
The court rejected the request, saying the matter remains the responsibility of the Court of Appeal.
Jurors found that Luster had drugged all three women and videotaped two of the rapes of the unconscious women. Diamond said Friday his client was unjustly convicted, and repeated Luster's defense that the sex was consensual.
An attorney for one of the victims, who all have civil litigation pending against Luster, said his defense is contemptible.
"They were all given drugs by him and unbeknownst by them," attorney Barry Novack said. "My client was a 17-year-old minor ... that's statutory rape."
Ventura County prosecutors said Luster took three women to his beachside home between 1996 and 2000 and raped them after giving them the drug GHB, known as a "date-rape" drug.
A search of his home after his arrest found videotapes of Luster having sex with women who appeared to be either asleep or unconscious. In one tape played in court, Luster is seen on camera having sex with a woman and saying "That's exactly what I like in my room: A passed-out, beautiful girl."
Diamond said the legality of the search is one possible issue for the appeal, suggesting investigators had no basis to include videotapes on the warrant request because their initial informant, one of the victims, did not know she had been taped.
"The videotapes revealed the two other women who had allegedly been raped," Diamond said. "I believe the tapes should have been suppressed by the trial judge."
Luster fled his trial during a Christmas break, jumping the $1 million bail put up by his family. Jurors him found guilty in January, and in February, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken Riley sentenced him to 124 years in state prison.
Diamond filed an appeal after the sentencing, but the state Court of Appeal ruled June 10 against considering the appeal. The appellate court justices said Luster had forfeited his right to an appeal because he became a fugitive.
Luster's return to the United States this week allowed his defense team to meet a deadline for seeking the appeal, Diamond said. Luster is being held at Wasco State Prison, near Bakersfield.
The state Attorney General's Office will oppose any appeal of Luster's convictions, officials said.
"The Supreme Court justices have rejected it for filing because the Court of Appeal still has jurisdiction," Deputy Attorney General Joseph Lee said. "I assume he (Diamond) will be filing something in the Court of Appeal, but it is our position that Luster has forfeited his right to appeal."
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