Mammoth Lakes ski instructor Joseph Walker, who pleaded guilty in a child sex case earlier this month, is facing a civil case filed last week by the minor and her parents in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
Walker, 48, and Dr. Andrew Bourne, 46, also of Mammoth Lakes, were arrested Jan. 4 by Santa Barbara police on suspicion of illegally contacting a minor for sexual activity.
The two friends were released on bail Jan. 10 after entering not guilty pleas in the case, which involved a now-16-year-old Santa Barbara girl whose family was friends with both men.
Bourne committed suicide Jan. 24, and the charges against him were later dropped. Prosecutors subsequently amended the case against Walker and filed 21 charges against him.
Walker pleaded guilty to five felony counts of illegal sexual activity with a minor, and could be ordered to serve five years in state prison at his June 1 sentencing.
Santa Barbara police launched an investigation last September after suspicious emails sent to the girl were discovered by one of her parents and reported to police.
The new civil case was filed against Walker last Wednesday by the minor’s attorney, Chris Kroes. The complaint alleges sexual battery, infliction of emotional distress, fraud and deceit, statutory violations, conspiracy, seduction of a minor and violation of mandatory reporting obligations.
“Bourne and Walker held themselves out to be pillars of the community when in fact they were both sexual predators,” the documents read. In the fall of 2009, the pair “engaged in a common plan to befriend the parents of Jane Doe, a minor, for the actual purposes of deceit and in order to gain trust and sexual access to their daughter, in order to engage in illegal lewd acts and sexual relations upon the minor child.”
According to court documents, the plaintiffs believe that the 47-year-old Walker had sex with the girl in excess of 30 times, when she was 14 to 15 years old.
The documents also said that 45-year-old Bourne had sexual relations with the girl multiple times, and that the men knew about the other’s activities and “encouraged the other to have sex with Jane Doe for approximately the last two years.”
The plaintiffs say the men told the girl that they loved her and “both made false promises to her regarding her future with them” in order to persuade the girl to have sex with them. The complaint also alleges that they engaged in “extensive electronic exploits” with each other and with the girl.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
