Catholic Charity director accused of soliciting sex will go to trial
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Catholic Charity director accused of soliciting sex will go to trial*
Staff, The Examiner
2007-11-28 21:27:57.0
Current rank: # 41 of 9,549
REDWOOD CITY -
The 65-year-old director of a Half Moon Bay Catholic charity
organization will go to trial for a misdemeanor charge after allegedly
soliciting a woman for sex when she called him asking for employment
assistance, a judge decided today in San Mateo County Superior Court.
Michael David Niece, who runs the Coastside Catholic Worker, was not
present this morning when his lawyer William Johnston attended his
pre-trial conference.
Niece allegedly offered the 35-year-old Half Moon Bay woman $500 for sex
when they spoke on the phone Aug. 13, according to Chief Deputy District
Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
The woman, who had received help from the charity for several months,
was looking for help finding a job when Niece made the offer, Wagstaffe
said. The woman declined and later called Half Moon Bay police, he said.
Police then set up a sting operation, and when the woman again called,
Niece he reiterated his offer, according to Wagstaffe. When she
accepted, they arranged a meeting, and Niece was arrested, he said.
Wagstaffe said the sting operation would be an important part of proving
the case.
“Otherwise you have a he-said, she-said,” Wagstaffe said, with the
possibility that “no one’s going to believe her against an upstanding
member of the community,” he added.
Niece was charged with soliciting prostitution, a charge that brings a
maximum six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine if he is convicted,
according to Wagstaffe.
However “on a first time offense like this one, he probably would not
get the full six months if he is convicted,” Wagstaffe said.
A trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Feb. 19 and Niece remains out of custody.
According to the charity’s Web site, the Coastside Catholic Worker was
founded in Half Moon Bay in 2000 by Niece and his wife, Kathy, and
offers assistance, primarily to Coastside agricultural workers and their
families, in the form of food, clothing, diapers, blankets and other
household items.
— Bay City News