Gay-Sex Ring at Manhattan Beach Bathroom? 18 Dudes Arrested for Lewd Conduct, 'Utilizing a Peephole'

please do your gay shit behind closed doors, public restrooms isnt the place your f..ng morans.and glad you posted their names & photos, there was a prostitute sting in north hollywood recently and over 20 johns got arrested and their names and pics were posted, now of course you are innocent until proven guilty so if you are found innocent then sue or have the news media retract their story mentioning you by name as being mistakingly named, i would probably sue

I don't think the issue here is that the MBPD is worried about mensroom sex encounters. They received a complaint, and are obligated to take a pro-active stand til it is under control.

However lewd conduct is little more than a nuisance, and a low-level misdemeanor crime that could have arguably been handled  by beat cops doing a patrol check in between calls.

An officer in uniform walking into the restroom can snare any orgies in progress as well as send a message to those lurking about to go someplace else.

The setting up of a camera and weeks of surveillance takes investigators away from felony cases that have a true victim.

It's pretty obvious that the PD is using public shame of the 18 men as a message ' "we will ruin your life if you come and do this in M.B, "

The papers and other media outlets facinated with taboo sex reporting should justify in the Editorial section why there is a public urgency to identify these men but not the hundreds of other people that are arrested for other misdemeanor crimes ie: shoplifters, vandals,etc.. The info is there, they just don't wish to humiliate other criminals.

Why are you such an asshole? Not enough even smart enough to make this TRITE

From a law firm that specializes in these kinds of cases:

"Most California Penal Code 647(a) "Lewd Conduct in Public" arrests involve undercover sting operations. Decoy police officers pose as gay men in bathrooms, parks and other public locations. These undercover cops will try to "bait" you into exposing yourself, masturbating, or proposing some sexual act. Then they arrest you. It's pure entrapment.Our California criminal defense lawyers have successfully defended hundreds of PC 647(a) Lewd Conduct entrapment cases. Almost every one of them has gotten dismissed or reduced to a lesser charge.  Much of the time, the alleged acts do not amount to "lewd or dissolute conduct" as the law defines it. In fact, quite often the arrested person does nothing but make eye contact and "cruise" the decoy officer...but the police lie, embellish and exaggerate the facts to make it look like something more than that happened. It's wrong. But it happens all the time."

I hope every gay and every civil rights minded advertiser pulls its ads from the LA and OC Weekly for running the photos of those arrested.

A reprehensible move on par with the OC Register.

these guys are getting what they deserve.  gay on straight doesn't matter here.  they are having sex in a public bathroom.  it's disgusting and they all should be put in jail. 

Wow, Mr. Wilson. You're a truly awful, thoughtless, smug asshole. Your existence as a writer for the LA weekly further proves that this rag has lost all connection to its roots as a thoughtful, progressive, alternative source of information.

Support gay rights, but this here is just sick, there are kids and others who use that bathroom, its not there for these idiots sexual pleasures. 

I have always been one to support gays but if this continues I will seriously need to reconsider!

glad to see their pics posted,they should be embarrassed,bunch of homo's........

This is not a discussion or debate about consenting adults its about doing sex acts in public..if you must go behind private doors not in a public restroom where I am others may be offended...use the common sense God gave you ..NOT IN PUBLIC please ..thanks for the police protecting people that don't want to see public sex...

Bad enough it was done in the first place but for the Weekly to use that as an excuse to plaster on here is even worse. One of the things we have fought hard for in GLBT rights is to stop this reprehensible proactive. This is what the papers used to do in conjunction with police harassment in the sixties. This ruined people's lives and was frequently the cause of people being disowned by families, fired and suicides. No joke. It was a hallmark of the Chief Parker days of terror for GLBT people. You don't know what the men's personal circumstances are and the level of damage this will do. Shame on the Weekly for reproducing this - it didn't need to be circulated further to tell the story. This truly pains me as I have a long positive association with the Weekly and it really hurts to have to say this. If my old friend Morris Kight were here he wo.uld weep. He thought we were past the days when a major news outlet in this city would perpetuate a disgrace like this. He went to quite a few funerals for men who killed themselves over this kind of thing and spent many hours counseling grieving partners and families over these kinds of incidents. Just when you think progress has been made something like this comes out- from the last place it would be expected.

This is the lowest level of journalism. Further exposing -- in a glib, borderline sociopathic tone  -- a group of closeted sad sacks whose mugshots were callously leaked by the MBPD?  I mean, really?  This is what we get from the "alternative" LA press?  Yikes.

This whole thing is pathetic all around.  The 18 men.  The public shaming by the police.  And the hacks who cover the story from the cruelest, least illuminating angle possible.

loitering? perhaps spending too much time on the can when constipated? indecent exposure?perhaps actually unzipping your fly at a urinal? sounds like the manhattan beach pd doesn't have enough to do with their time? 2 weeks ago my car was stolen off of PCH 2 blocks from Artesia. The cops wouldn't even come out and take a report. They told me to drive to (hello? my car has been stolen!!!) 15th street near the beach before they'd even take a report. The operator tells me they won't even take my car's license # over the phone. I remind them that the car could be in Mexico before they would put the stolen license plate out to their cop cars. They couldn'thave cared less!! Maybe they should spend a little less time hanging out in restrooms and a little more time solving REAL crime. Oh but I guess it's just easier arresting a bunch of gay men than looking for car thieves...... 

Simone has never heard of the Manhattan Beach PreSchool Satanic Child Sex Abuse Witchhunt.  Most expensive trial in history, all accused acquitted, numerous families ruined.  At the center of it?  Manhattan Beach Police Department.

This article is nothing but sadistic infliction of injury upon persons.

Civil rights activist will help at no cost those arrested at the Manhattan Beach Marine Ave Restroom. Such operations are often sophisticated anti-gay discrimination and oppression under color of law. Years of experience have often proven such police operations to be entrapment by police who filled with bias and animus towards the Protected Class of gay people. In many cases, the police officers themselves initiate sexual encounters to entice the subject to participate in sex. Soliciting someone for sex is not illegal. Nor is engaging in sex when no one else is around to be offended.The best way to stop such illegal police actions is for defendants to work together and to direct their attorneys to cooperate with other attorneys. Furthermore, there are more cost effective and less damaging ways to abate a local nuisance that arresting, booking, and prosecuting violators. People interested in participating in the defense of the Manhattan Beach 18, or anyone else entrapped by police surveillance operations should reply immediately. This is a public service announcement offering only information. Not an attorney, not a commercial transaction.

email  4rhhd-2940610002@pers.craigslist.org

Simone, why is consensual sex between adults "creepy" to you? and why do you find it funny with your sprinkled "Heh's" that these men were arrested, their faces blasted on the internet for despite not harming anyone? 

Sexual shame and stigma in our society goes unchallenged in cases like these. My biggest concern is all the resources and time WASTED hunting down these non-violent "criminals" by a bunch of bored, lazy cops who should be out there stopping real criminals.