Friday, August 26, 2016
Page 4
Lawyer Pleads Not Guilty to Sex With 14-Year-Old Boy
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A Beverly Hills attorney pled not guilty yesterday to having sex with a 14-year-old boy.
The District Attorney’s Office said in a release that Benjamin Lawson Adams, 31, entered the plea at arraignment. He faces three counts each of lewd acts upon a child, oral copulation of a person under 16, two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object and one count of sodomy of a person under 16.
He is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Torrance on Sept. 27.
Adams was arrested last May on a warrant. Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted the victim during the months of September and October last year. They also say he initiated contact with the victim via a social media app and then arranged to meet with the teenager in person.
Manhattan Beach police said at the time of his arrest that Adams described himself as an entertainment industry attorney in order to entice potential victims, and asked other victims to contact them. Yesterday’s release described the case as still being under investigation.
Deputy District Attorney Chad Gillette is the lead prosecutor on the case. Adams did not respond to a MetNews request for comment.
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