Match.com Sex Battery Suspect: No Contest
Posted by Daniel Antolin on Aug 18, 2011 - 10:21:17 AM
Alan Paul Wurtzel booking photo courtesy of LAPD.
PACIFIC PALISADES—On Wednesday, August 17, a Pacific Palisades man plead no contest in Los Angeles Superior Court to a felony sexual battery by restraint charge against a woman he met about a year ago through the Match.com dating website.
According to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, 67-year-old Alan Paul Wurtzel entered the no contest plea before Judge Barbara Johnson. Wurtzel faces one year in prison, five years of formal probation and would be required to register as sex offender for life, said Jane Creighton, deputy district attorney representing the sex crimes division, in a press release prepared by her office.
Wurtzel was initially charged with sexually assaulting Carole Markin, a 53-year-old Hollywood television producer and author he met on Match.com in early 2010. After Wurtzel drove Markin home from Urth Cafe on Melrose after a second date on May 20, 2010, he allegedly followed the woman into her residence, where he held her down while sexually assaulting her. His attorney previously told media outlets that the incident was consensual.
What prompted Wurtzel to plead no contest was a deal reached with prosecutors to dismiss one initial count of forcible oral copulation, said Jane Robison, a press secretary with the district attorney's office, in the press release.
Sexual assault victims are not usually identified by authorities. In this case, Markin revealed her identity to the public after filing a lawsuit against Match.com. On May 4, Markin sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the website from signing up users until it established an effective screening process, court documents state.
Markin previously told media outlets that she checked the national sex offender registry after the incident and discovered that Wurtzel had been a registrant six separate times. She claimed to file the lawsuit so that no other Match.com user could be similarly victimized.
In response to the lawsuit being filed in April, Match.com announced a few days later that new users would be checked versus the national sex offender registry within 60 to 90 days of them signing up. This is why the temporary restraining order request was dismissed.
Court documents state that Markin cancelled her six-month Match.com subscription in January 2011, but later subscribed again for the purposes of filing the lawsuit. But Markin said she had no intention to contact other subscribers of the dating website.
"A 'no contest' plea results in a California criminal conviction," the SHOUSE Law Group website states. "When you plead 'no contest,' you are not technically admitting guilt but are still allowing the court to determine your punishment."
Wurtzel is scheduled to be sentenced for the sexual battery charge on September 19. He was reportedly a sex offender registrant for two misdemeanor sexual battery incidents in 2004.
-
Serving Bel Air, Benedict Canyon, Beverly Hills. Brentwood, Laurel Canyon, Los Feliz, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Melrose, Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Topanga, Canyon, Westwood & Hollywood Hills.
