Court upholds sex conviction for Las Vegas magician

By Cy Ryan

Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 | 2:01 p.m.

CARSON CITY – A federal appeals court has upheld the Las Vegas conviction of a magician who was trolling the Internet to find a juvenile sex partner.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld the lifetime supervision imposed on Kevin E. Curtin who complained it was a vindictive sentence imposed by federal Judge Kent Dawson.

The court backed the reasoning of Dawson, who said the employment of Curtin as a magician gives him access to young audiences “and there is a need, as long as that is his occupation to protect minors. And life-time supervision will provide that.”

Curtin initially was convicted of these charges but the circuit court tossed out the conviction on grounds there was an improper admission of evidence. He served a five year prison term before the first conviction was reversed.

At the second trial Curtin was found guilty of travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile and one count of coercion and enticement.

Judge Dawson did not impose any more prison time but added the lifetime supervision restriction.

Curtin was arrested during a government sting operation designed to identify adults using the Internet to arrange sexual encounters with juveniles.

Curtis maintained he was “role-playing in an effort to meet an adult pretending to be a child for that purpose.”

The government said the electronic personal digital assistant of Curtin contained more than 140 child/sex stories. The defense objected to the introduction of this evidence. But Judge Dawson said attorneys for Curtin opened the door for the prosecution when it introduced other stories in the digital assistant that contained innocent subjects and did not involve sex with juveniles.

Judge Stephen S. Trott, who wrote the opinion of the circuit court, said evidence introduced at the second trial showed Curtin had directions to a minor’s house. “The evidence suggested that Curtin had the potential to be a repeat offender, and that events underlying his conviction were not isolated in nature.”

In another ruling, the circuit court rejected the petition of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Nevada to rehear a previous decision in which the Las Vegas conviction of Brandon D. Monghur of Las Vegas was reversed.

The court initially ruled the FBI illegally entered the home of Monghur’s girlfriend without a warrant and found a revolver.

Monghur was in jail at the time on charges of attempted murder and battery and phoned a friend to get the “thing” that was hidden in a closet in his girlfriend’s house.

In rejecting the petition to reconsider its ruling, the court said not one judge favored rehearing the case.