ASSAULT, POT FARM SUSPECT IN COURT

A Santa Cruz man facing federal marijuana growing charges and sexual
assault charges, who is also under suspicion in other sexual assault
cases, was ordered to appear in U.S. District Court next week for a
bail hearing.

William Wilson, 37, has not been able to make the $1.25 million bail
set on a Santa Cruz County warrant charging him with a sexual assault
and burglary on Feb. 2. He has been in custody since April 17.

Wilson appeared before Judge Patricia V. Trumbull in federal court
Thursday for arraignment on charges of running a marijuana-growing
operation. No plea was entered, and he was ordered to return in a
week for a hearing to determine bail.

Wilson has hired one of Santa Cruz's top defense lawyers, Paul
Meltzer, to represent him in the federal case. Meltzer said he could
not comment on the charges because he has not reviewed all the
evidence. But he said the charges, which carry a sentence of 10 years
to life in prison, seem out of proportion to the alleged offense.

"He's accused of putting the wrong seeds in the ground," Meltzer
said.

Santa Cruz police say the Feb. 2 sexual assault is among a rash of
similar incidents in the city's Seabright neighborhood. They believe
Wilson is responsible for many of them. Police said they have since
linked Wilson to a March 15 peeping incident, and tentatively
identified him in two other sexual assaults and another prowling case.

No additional charges have been filed, however. Santa Cruz County
prosecutors said they are awaiting results of fingerprint and genetic
analysis. Meltzer said that because of the sex case, prosecutors are
levying unduly stiff drug charges against his client.

"This is really not about him growing marijuana," Meltzer said. "I'd
like to see the marijuana case tried on its own merit, or lack of merit."