Ex-Burbank Talent Agent Gets 5-Year Prison Term : Crime: The judge denies probation for Wallace Kaye. He was convicted in April of sexually assaulting 9 aspiring actresses.

By JULIE TAMAKI

June 10, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

A Superior Court judge on Wednesday sentenced a former Burbank talent agent to five years and four months in prison for sexually assaulting nine aspiring actresses and a female Glendale police officer who posed as one to investigate him.

A Pasadena Superior Court jury convicted Wallace Kaye, 52, on April 28 of 10 counts, ranging from felony sexual battery by restraint to felony imprisonment by violence to misdemeanor battery. Victims told jurors that they came to Kaye seeking acting or modeling jobs and that they were assaulted while improvising dramatic scenes with Kaye, supposedly to demonstrate their abilities.

Judge Jack B. Tso imposed the prison term Wednesday despite a recommendation by parole officer Gerald Magid that Kaye be sentenced to probation.

“I feel really good,” said a woman who identified herself as one of Kaye’s victims. “I think the sentence sends a message to the community that we don’t live under oppressive circumstances anymore and that we can fight back and be victorious.”

Her sentiments were echoed by another victim.: “I feel like a big load has been lifted and that I can go on with my life. I’m glad he’s going to prison.”

They were among four victims who appeared in court Wednesday to urge that Kaye receive the maximum eight-year sentence. They included Glendale Police Officer Susan Hayn, who called on Kaye posing as an aspiring actress.

One of the victims told Tso that Kaye’s attack has affected her personally and professionally, and that she doubts the public understands “what a woman goes through to be a victim of sexual assault.”

In an unusual move, Burbank Police Sgt. David Gabriel subsequently took the stand and told the court that he regretted asking Hayn, who was borrowed from the Glendale department, to take part in the undercover investigation.

“It affected her so much I completely regret having done it,” said Gabriel in a telephone interview. “When she went in there she was a woman first, not a police officer. She had no gun, no badge . . . she felt some of the trauma that the victims did.”

In denying Magid’s recommendation, Tso said he found that there was planning and premeditation in the attacks, pointing out that Kaye repeatedly met with his victims alone behind locked doors and that he would ask them to improvise scenes of a sexual nature.

“Why was there the need to touch the victims as described?” asked Tso, noting that Kaye was convicted of fondling his victims’ breasts, buttocks and vaginas.

The judge also said that as a talent agent Kaye held a position of trust with his clients. He noted that many of Kaye’s victims were physically smaller than their assailant., who stands more than six feet tall and weighs more than 200 pounds.

Pete Scalisi, Kaye’s attorney, said his client will appeal the sentence.

“It’s unfortunate that (Kaye) is being sent to state prison,” Scalisi said. “He’s been decimated by this. It’s just a sad situation all the way around.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Collier described the sentence as fair.

“Somebody who commits that many attacks in basically a serial manner over a long period of time should be dealt with harshly,” said Collier, who noted that Kaye showed no remorse.

Magid testified that he recommended probation for Kaye because he did not believe that the former talent agent would try to molest other women.

Magid also said he was bothered by the testimony of Kaye’s victims, who described the effect of the attacks on their lives in similar fashion. He said they all sounded as if they had lived cloistered lives and had never had a sleazy pass made at them.

After the sentencing, Magid’s recommendation triggered an angry response from attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing one of the victims in a civil suit against the Screen Actors Guild. Filed last month, the lawsuit alleges negligent misrepresentation and seeks unspecified damages.

“I think the probation department has to re-evaluate who it thinks is a danger to society,” Allred said to Magid during a confrontation outside the courtroom. “How much crime to women is enough? How much fear is enough? How much sexual battery is enough? . . . When is it going to be enough for the probation department to recommend a prison term?”

Both Allred and one of the victims read prepared statements in court that outlined Kaye’s attack on the woman, who was the first victim to contact police in May of last year.

“Kaye directed her to improvise a scene of a sexually suggestive nature, he locked the door and then he sexually attacked her, forcibly kissed her, fondling her . . . and placing her in fear of being imminently raped,” Allred said.

Of her encounter with Kaye, the woman broke into tears as she said: “It has changed my trust in human beings. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get that back.”

The victim said she will now fight to get the Screen Actors Guild to take stronger action in such cases.

“Getting Wally is only 50% of the battle,” she said. “I want to try and somehow prevent this from happening to other people.”

Mark Locher, spokesman for the Screen Actors Guild, the union for film and television performers, declined to comment on allegations in the civil lawsuit, but said he was pleased with Wednesday’s outcome.

“The Screen Actors Guild has been leading the industry in combatting sexual harassment with a very visible program over the last two years,” Locher said. “We are very pleased that these performers came forward, pressed charges and that justice has been done.”