Prominent lawyer jailed in child-porn case until he made $400K bail; public safety issue claimed
As a top San Francisco political consultant, a 41-year-old California lawyer was no stranger to controversy.
But Enrique Pearce’s career continued to soar until his arrest earlier this month on felony child-pornography charges.
Although he has pleaded not guilty and is months away from a trial at which his guilt or innocence will be determined, the case severely damaged his consulting career: Clients disappeared, especially after prosecutors at a bail hearing last week detailed what the San Francisco Chronicle described as “sordid, gut-wrenching pictures and videos of children being sexually abused by adults,” relying on information from court records. For a while, phone calls weren’t answered at Pearce’s consulting company and law office.
Citing over 100 pictures of clothed 8- to 12-year-old children that were found on Pearce’s phone and apparently were not pornographic, the government contended in the bail hearing that he was a public safety risk. Authorities said they found hundreds of photos and videos that were pornographic on at least one of the computers they seized from Pearce under a search warrant, an earlier San Francisco Chronicle article reported.
His lawyer, Eileen Burke, called prosecutors’ successful effort to get Pearce’s bail increased to $400,000 “incredibly unfair.” There is no evidence he had had any contact with the children whose photos were found on his phone, she said, and he is charged only with possessing child pornography. Pearce was taken into custody after the bail hearing, but released when he made the $400,000 bail.
The investigation of Pearce was sparked by an informant who walked into a police station early in February. He told authorities about online conversations he had with Pearce in which the informant was allegedly asked “do you perv?” and sent photos of naked youngsters, the Chronicle reports.
The informant was a man who had been chatting with Pearce on Yahoo Messenger, SF Weekly reports.
Police said they traced the online contacts with the informant to computers at Pearce’s home and law office and got a search warrant.
Bay City News Service and the San Francisco Examiner also have stories.
