Did former Infoseek executive Patrick Naughton incriminate himself by tell his then-boss on the telephone the day after he was arrested for soliciting sex with a 13-year-old girl on the Internet? That's the tantalizing question, which came out in federal court testimony Wednesday as Naughton's trial got underway.
That boss, Harry M. Motro, Infoseek's chief executive officer, testified as a prosecution witness that he called Naughton's office and cell phone numbers after hearing his subordinate had been arrested on the Santa Monica pier, in what turned out to have been an FBI sting with the 13-year-old girl actually an adult undercover officer.
Motro's messages to Naughton indicated he'd heard "disturbing rumors" and asked Naughton to call as soon as he got the message, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Motro also testified Naughton returned the call and showed remorse. " 'I did it'," Motro quoted Naughton as saying in that call, adding that Naughton had said he was sorry.
"He said he would have to say he was sorry one thousand times to one thousand people," Motro testified. "He clarified that he had been talking to an FBI agent not a 13-year-old. He said he knew he was fired and I confirmed and said he was.''
Naughton's fall cost him $15 million in stock and vested options once Infoseek was merged into the Walt Disney Company.
The 34-year-old former Internet wunderkind faces charges of using the Net and crossing state lines for sex with a minor, possessing child porn on his laptop, and up to 35 years in prison if he's convicted.
The Mercury News says Naughton was portrayed, on the first full day's testimony, as a man who used company time and even meetings to conduct online flirtations with people who identified themselves online as underage girls - and "a man who bragged of his wealth and even name dropped about the people he met at a Hollywood party, all to impress young girls he met through Internet chat rooms."
The prosecution is expected to wrap up its case Thursday.
Further testimony portrayed Naughton's online life as an ardent and even sensitive lover who was very solicitous toward the young girls he engaged, particularly the bogus one identified online as KrisLA.
Naughton's attorney, Donald Marks, attempted on cross examinations to secure the subject of whether KrisLA was pressuring Naughton to meet. The undercover agent who posed online said he wanted to establish whether Naughton was just fantasizing or whether he really did want to meet the presumed 13-year-old girl.
