Maurice Wolin

Wolin's last RSO mugshot before his death

> *"I didn't do anything, but I did something stupid."*
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>  *- Wolin talking to his wife over the phone*
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**Maurice Jay Wolin** was a suspected predator involved in the Petaluma, California sting. He is best known for spilling his margarita and smashing his sunglasses onto the ground, as well as the long and drawn out legal process of his case.

## Biography

Maurice, a 48 year old Cancer research doctor and UCLA graduate at the time of the sting, began chatting with a girl he believed to be thirteen named "Willow". He had also earlier hit up another decoy he believed to be thirteen with the screen name "crazy\_frazy2005", asking if she wanted to go out with him. Wolin lies to Willow saying he is divorced. He also flaunts his affluence to the girl to turn her on. He mentions that he wants to give her oral sex, receive it, and wanting to kiss her breasts. He makes plans to meet at the trap house all the while keeping things on a slow burn with the second decoy.

## Sting and Arrest

Wolin drove from Piedmont, CA to Petaluma to visit the decoy. When he arrives, he follows the decoy to the backyard, where she goes off screen to "change into a bathing suit". While he waits, he tries to pour himself a drink, but because the drink had been sitting for so long, the entire concoction had froze together into a giant clump of slush and just falls into his glass, spilling all over him. Wolin claimed he lived in San Francisco as an effort on his part not to reveal his place of residence (which would later be revealed by the Petaluma Police). As he looks around to clean it up before his date is done changing, he spots a cameraman and bolts saying, "I gotta take off", even after Chris requests him to come back.

Before he can leave the house, cops show up to stop him, where he smashes his sunglasses onto the concrete floor out of panic and frustration. He claims that "I wasn't gonna do anything", repeating it over and over while he cries and gets handcuffed. While being read his rights, Wolin appeared to be mentally distraught, unable to comprehend the situation or the officers’ words. During his questioning, he initially plays it smart and refuses to answer questions, but quickly waives his right to remain silent and speaks at length to investigators. Throughout the booking and questioning procedures, he whined about never doing anything wrong in the past and acts like he has no idea why he is in trouble. He then calls his wife asking her to bring $30,000 for bail, and not to bring their daughters.

## Legal Battles

Wolin’s lawyer, Blair Berk, researched other cases that Perverted Justice had been a part of and came across the acquittal of Michael Wilusz. She learned how the defense attorney in that case challenged PJ’s evidence gathering methods, leading to a subpoena of their hard drives, which PJ refused to honor and subsequently led to his client’s acquittal. Wolin’s lawyer tried to do the same in his client’s case and even though PJ said in this case as in the Wilusz case that the hard drive was destroyed, the judge would not dismiss the charges because unlike in Florida, where burden of proof was on the prosecution to show there was no tampering of chatlogs, the burden of proof was on the defense to prove there was.

After two years fighting the case, Wolin eventually plead no contest, earning him two months of house arrest, three years of probation, and lifetime sex offender registry. Since he dragged this case out for so long, he was the target to a few news stories in his area of residence. His license for practicing medicine was temporarily revoked during his his legal proceedings, and was permanently revoked after his conviction. Wolin would move to Singapore while his case went through the system, taking a position as a medical consultant for firm called S-Bio for six months before moving on to being a consultant for a Seattle based firm called Seattle Genetics for a little under two years. He left the latter job in April of 2009 probably due to his conviction the previous month. Surprisingly, he was also a consultant for an Oakland children's hospital up until his release from jail.

## Death

In January 2021, a woman on Instagram claiming to be the daughter of Wolin had announced his passing, showing pictures of a younger Wolin with her. The woman soon made her account private, however. Wolin was later removed from the Megan's Law Website furthering the idea that he has indeed passed. It was unknown what his exact cause of death was, until August 2021, when a YouTuber named "The Skip Tracer" uploaded a video of an official coroner's report he received, detailing Wolin's death. Wolin appeared to have hanged himself on January 6 of 2021. Reportedly, his exposure on TCaP and subsequent legal troubles weren’t the motivations behind his apparent suicide, but a drunken fight.

## Trivia

* Perverted Justice claimed his chat was “destroyed” when his chatlog was requested, yet their version was still posted on their site after his conviction.
* His ex-wife is also a doctor.
* Maurice Wolin's laywer was Blair Berk, a lawyer who specializes in celebrity cases. Blair had represented Leonardo DeCaprio, Mel Gibson, and more.
* Wolin's death occurred on the same day as the January 6 Capitol Riots.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.perverted-justice.com/?archive=talldreamy\_doc
2. ↑ http://4patientsafety.org/documents/Wolin,%20Maurice%20Jay%202007-08-08%20Article.pdf
3. ↑ https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/three-years-later-doctor-takes-plea-deal-in-tv-sex-sting/#:~:text=Wolin%20declined%20to%20comment%20as,%22To%20Catch%20a%20Predator.%22
4. ↑ http://www.perverted-justice.com/?con=talldreamy\_doc
5. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/maurice-wolin-md-56892617
6. ↑ https://archive.vcstar.com/news/piedmont-doctor-caught-in-tv-sex-sting-sentenced-ep-369502098-350005411.html/