From: wdstarr@athena.mit.edu (William December Starr)
Subject: And then again, some lawyers really *are* scum...
Organization: Northeastern Law, Class of '93
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 00:17:57 GMT


Found this over in alt.sex.bondage.  Can't wait to read the North
Carolina Board of Bar Overseers' official report on this one...

From: Jack.Smoke@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Jack Smoke)
Newsgroups: alt.sex.bondage
Subject: Asheboro Spanking
Date: 29 Sep 92 21:11:21 GMT

{By request I am posting the following.  It is transcribed, sans
permission, from the September 18 Asheboro Courier Tribune, and will
be removed upon request of the original author or publishers.}

TEEN-AGER RECORDS ATTORNEY DISCUSSING SPANKING INCIDENTS

Bobby Burns, Courier-Tribune Staff Writer

   A 17-year-old high school girl who claims an Asheboro attorney
spanked her bare buttocks, later wore a hidden microphone and recorded
the man talking about the incident, police search warrants say.

   Asheboro Police Department officers say charges are "imminent"
against Franklin E. Wells, who was defending the girl against
allegations of underage possession of alcohol and resisting arrest.

   Wells, 32, could not be reached for comment.  Police said he would
be "unavailable for arrest for several days.  He likely will be
charged with assault on a female, said Timmy R. Lee, chief of the
department's criminal investigation division.

   According to the search warrants, the girl told police Wells first
struck her on Aug. 25, after telling her that a judge and a prosecutor
decided she "needed" a spanking.  She went to police on Sept. 3,
complaining that Wells had spanked her on two occasions: in an office
at the Randolph County Courthouse on Aug. 25; and at a vacant home on
East Salisbury Street on Aug. 28.

   The girl told officers that on the second occasion, Wells
instructed her to remove all clothing that covered her buttocks and
hit her until her skin was red, the search warrants said.

   Detective T. L. McIver and Agent Fred Patton of the N. C. State
Bureau of Investigation asked the girl to wear a hidden microphone
when she spoke with Wells again.

   Then, on Sept. 4, she and Wells went to a room in the vacant home,
which Wells owns with two other attorneys.  The girl asked Wells "why
she had to have a spanking," the search warrants said.  "And Mr. Wells
replied that it did her good, that she needed a reminder to keep her
out of trouble."

   The girl also asked Wells "if she had to get a spanking for him to
keep her out of trouble," the warrant said.  "He replied that she had
to pay him some way."

   Armed with the recording, the girl's statement, and other evidence,
the officers obtained search warrants for the vacant house and Wells'
office, which is next door.  On Sept. 10, they confiscated a file
containing information about the girl's alcohol possession case.
Police also snapped photographs and produced a video recording of the
vacant home's interior.

   The warrants, which were filed with the Randolph County Clerk of
Court, also elaborated on the two alleged spanking incidents.  They
said the first incident occurred after the girl reported to district
court for a hearing regarding her case.  However, the hearing was
continued and Wells escorted her to an isolated office where they
talked about the case, the documents said.

   During this conversation, Wells told the girl "That he had
discussed her case with the judge and the district attorney and that
they were all in agreement that all she needed was more discipline and
a spanking, and that he was going to administer that spanking," the
warrants said.

   Wells instructed the girl to lay across his lap, fully clothed,
with her buttocks upturned.  He struck her four or five times with his
open hand and told her to report to his office each Friday, the
warrants said.

   In the second incident, she reported to his office and they went to
a vacant home next door, which Wells owns with two other attorneys.
The two entered a room that contained only a chair.  Wells instructed
the girl to remove all clothing that covered her buttocks and he
spanked her with his hand "numerous times," the warrants stated.

   The girl attempted to put her clothes back on, but Wells would not
let her "as he wanted to see how red her butt was," the warrants
stated.  Wells sat quietly behind the girl out of her line of sight
while she stood in a corner.  After a few moments, she was allowed to
re-dress, the warrants said.

   The girl went to work later that night and told two friends what
happened.  The friends later told officers the girl was visibly upset.
One of them also saw her buttocks and told officers they were very
red.

   She subsequently reported the incidents to her parents who
consulted with Asheboro Police and Randolph County District Attorney
Garland Yates.

   Lee said an investigation is continuing.  He said charges other
than assault are possible.