Two charges dismissed against stripper
Jake Telamo must still register as a sex offender
By Heidi Rowley
Staff writer
Two felony charges of lewd acts with a child were dismissed Tuesday against a Fresno male stripper who was hired to perform at a teen's party in Visalia in 2001.
The stripper, Jake Telamo, 37, served a prison term after being convicted of two felony and four misdemeanor charges in connection with the party, organized by a Visalia woman to celebrate the birthday of a foster child placed in her home by a Tulare County agency.
A state appeals court reversed the felony convictions based on jury instruction errors and inaccurate submission of evidence, his attorney, Tracy Dressnor of Los Angeles, said.
The Tulare County District Attorney's Office decided not to pursue a new trial on the two counts.
"Justice has been done by the fact that he was convicted," Deputy District Attorney Kathy Montejano said
Telamo was sentenced to a 16-month prison term in August 2001 on the two felony counts and on four misdemeanor counts of annoying or molesting four other teens, ages 16 to 17, at the party by grabbing and simulating sexual acts with them. He was also convicted of a felony for a concealed knife he was found carrying when he went to the Visalia Police Department for questioning three days after the party.
Telamo has already served his 16-month prison sentence for the conviction and will remain on parole for the weapons charge and the molestation charges, Montejano said.
Because the misdemeanor molestation charges were not dismissed, he will still have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Montejano said.
However, as a result of the two other felony charges being dismissed, DNA evidence that was used in the trial will be destroyed, Dressnor said.
Telamo was not at the hearing, Dressnor said, because he was in custody in Sacramento on a parole violation. She did not know the nature of the violation.
The remaining participants of the party, the foster mother, Rachelle Romano, 26, and another stripper, Roy Leon, 28, are serving out their sentences. Romano was sentenced to eight years in prison for 28 charges of molestation, giving minors alcohol and inducing them to participate in sex acts.
Leon is serving a four-year sentence for molesting several of the girls, having oral sex with one of the foster children and having sex with a 16-year-old. None of the victims or the victims' family members was at the hearing.
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Originally published Wednesday, January 21, 2004
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