June 6, 1957
Los Angeles

Former vice squad Detective Sgt. Philip Barnes was convicted of
molesting a 13-year-old girl, according to The
Times.

Barnes, of 3811 W. Avenue 41, presented an unusual challenge to
prosecutors. Because he waived his preliminary hearing in Municipal
Court and said he planned to plead guilty, there was no transcript of
the girl’s testimony. When Barnes changed his mind and pleaded not
guilty, the girl had vanished and there was not enough evidence to go
to court.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph T. Powers located the girl after a nationwide
search and personally brought her back to Los Angeles from the East
Coast, but she refused to testify until a recording of Barnes’
confession was played in court.

Barnes was convicted, but The Times failed to report the sentence imposed by Judge LeRoy Dawson.

Bonus fact: Dawson, who lost his left foot after being wounded in World
War I, collapsed and died in 1964 after 33 years in the Municipal and
Superior Courts.

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