Los Gatos man to face three charges of child molestation
By Gloria I. Wang
A longtime Los Gatos resident recently had one of four charges of child molestation against him dropped. A judge decided, however, that Joseph "Jack" Wagner, 48, could proceed to a formal trial after his case was presented at a March 13 preliminary hearing.
The hearing, which started March 12, consisted of witness testimony from Jack Wagner's brother, wife and Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Detective Randy Bishop. Wagner was arrested on July 20 and charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child, and two counts of prohibited acts with a minor.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge William Danser determined that there was sufficient evidence to continue with the proceedings against Jack Wagner. At the same time, Danser granted the defense's request to drop one of the latter charges because of lack of evidence.
Wagner's attorney, Michael Levinsohn, also asked for bail reduction, saying that "$500,000 bail is way out of line," especially since one charge had been dropped.
Chuck Gillingham, Santa Clara County deputy district attorney, disagreed.
Danser opted to not make a decision on bail, instead referring the case for further evaluation.
The lengthy hearing was peppered with frequent objections from Levinsohn, most of which were overruled by Danser. There were also several disputes on the validity of a transcript used by Levinsohn and of different testimonies. The judge called Wagner's wife's testimony "flippant."
Wagner himself was present, wearing a brown Santa Clara County Department of Corrections shirt with tan pants. The suspect had little reaction to much of what was said, only speaking when he whispered in his attorney's ear.
In his testimony, Wagner's older brother, Jim, outlined the events that had caused him concern and led to the arrest.
In June, Jim Wagner went to the family home--where his mother and Jack Wagner's family lived--in Los Gatos and turned on what he assumed was his brother's computer out of "pure curiosity." On the computer, Jim Wagner found files that contained photographs of nude young girls. Other files and digitized videos were password-protected.
"I felt that, as a family, we needed to confront Jack. He was--somebody was--viewing and producing pornography in [Jack's daughter's] bedroom," Jim Wagner said.
Soon after, the brothers had a long telephone conversation. "I said, 'Jack, I'm convinced you're a pedophile. I'm convinced that you're not a child molester,'" Jim Wagner said. "He felt that we were almost out to get him ... my only goal was to protect the kids and my mom."
An arraignment, at which Jack Wagner will be formally charged, is scheduled for March 25.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
