Over a year and a half after his shocking arrest on child pornography charges, local politico Enrique Pearce has pleaded guilty to four counts, and is likely to get a six-month sentence, possibly to be served in home detention. The news broke late Friday before the holiday weekend, and the Chronicle reports that Pearce made his guilty plea Friday morning in SF Superior Court.
Also, the paper reports, Pearce "may" have to register as a sex offender.
Pearce has been involved in the political campaigns of Mayor Ed Lee, Rep. Barbara Lee, and Supervisors Jane Kim and Norman Yee. Pearce, who ran a local consultancy firm called Left Coast Communications, is partly credited with helping "convince" Lee to run for his first elected term, and the famed "Run, Ed, Run" campaign.
Following his May 2015 arrest, SFPD spokesperson Grace Gatpandan said that he was found in possession of "over 600 images related to child pornography," with many "involving sexual sadism or sexual masochism." And if it couldn't get creepier, it also later was revealed that Pearce had 115 cell phone photos of 11 different fully clothed boys aged 8 to 12, all shot across San Francisco apparently without the kids' knowledge, including at least one shot on the steps of City Hall.
Pearce pleaded guilty to one count of possession of those images, but also to two counts of distributing child pornography, one count of buying or receiving stolen property the latter probably relating to a stolen parking meter that was found in his apartment at McAllister and Leavenworth when it was raided.
