Thursday, February 5, 2009
Page 3
Court Sentences Granada Hills Attorney in Child Pornography Case
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A Granada Hills attorney who pleaded no contest to possessing child pornography on his computer was placed on five years’ supervised probation and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service yesterday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office announced.
Steven George Hoover, 67, was charged with two felony counts of possessing child pornography on Christmas Eve, and entered his plea the same day.
The terms of his probation imposed by Superior Court Commissioner Henry Hall prohibit Hoover from working with or having contact with children and from using the Internet, Deputy District Attorney Corene Locke-Noble of the Justice System Integrity Division said.
Hoover’s computer hard drive will also be confiscated, and the attorney must register for life as a sex offender, Locke-Noble added.
If Hoover does not violate his probation for 365 days, Locke-Noble said, the charges could be reduced to misdemeanors by the court.
Locke-Noble also said the State Bar will be notified of Hoover’s conviction and sentence.
The State Bar stayed Hoover’s one-year suspension and placed Hoover on three years of probation in October 2000 after he stipulated to misconduct in four consolidated cases.
He admitted that he had failed to perform legal services competently, obey a court order, keep his clients reasonably informed about developments in their case or cooperate with the bar’s investigation.
Hoover was admitted to the State Bar in 1973 after graduating from Claremont McKenna College and Southwestern Law School.
Copyright 2009, Metropolitan News Company