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May 15, 2014· santaclarita.com · SantaClarita.com (SCVTalk 5.0) · Wayback capture

Nine months later, Scott Hounsell Cleared of Charges

By Mike Devlin

Scott Hounsell, the former LA County GOP chief with ties to the SCV whose arrest last August made national news, saw his charges dropped and his case dismissed yesterday, according to his Facebook post.

"This morning, all charges related to the false accusations made against me were dropped and dismissed. While I will never get my life back, I certainly hope to be able to get back to work. Thank you to all who stood by my side and supported me during this horrible time for me and my family. More to come on this soon."

You may or may not remember the story of Scott Hounsell. Last year, he was arrested on charges of sending harmful matter to a minor. Within hours of his arrest on August 2nd, 2013, the Associated Press had the story: "Former head of LA Co. GOP arrested in alleged sex chat with 16-year-old girl."

They story spread rapidly, picked up by several major national news outlets within hours. Since he was known locally as a staffer for former Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, his name was in big lights on SCVTalk, too. 

Unfortunately for Hounsell, it's unlikely that any of the national media that covered his arrest will have anything to say about his exoneration. This is true of most crime reporting. Crimes are sensational, and nothing wraps up a juicy crime story like an arrest. The ultimate conclusion, be it an acquittal, dismissal or conviction, usually comes long since the arrest has been forgotten by the media. 



So for some time to come, Hounsell has what you might call a "Google problem." While the initial story went around the world twice in the matter of hours, it might be a while before his bout with infamy is undone. So at the very least, because we reported on his arrest, we owe it to him to share the news that his case has been dismissed.


Comments (5)

  1. HenryJenningsThursday, May 15th, 2014 at 9:25 am
    Classy. Thanks.
  2. BertaThursday, May 15th, 2014 at 11:31 am
    Good job on fair reporting Mike. Perhaps this is why Europeans have approved laws requiring Google to remove negative posts.
  3. timothymyers02Monday, May 19th, 2014 at 8:50 am
    Berta: A clarification because I know you like to have full knowledge of matters. Europe does not really have the equivalent of the First Amendment, and so the recent rulings can require Google to de-link from "old" information at the request of the affected party. (The case that was recently decided dealt with an attorney who have been involved with a foreclosure in 1998 that he wanted de-linked.) Under the robust First Amendment and the way we apply it on this side of the Atlantic, ANYTHING that is TRUE will stay up forever. Unfortunately for Mr. Hounsell, the fact that the was charged, which is still true, will live forever on the internet, while it may be more difficult for the search engine to find the dropping of the charges.
  4. JIM R DELMONTETuesday, May 20th, 2014 at 11:28 am
    America is the land of he free. Free men like Hounsell should be exonerated where one party Democrats try and destroy a fine young man. The perpetrators of these actions should be the ones on trial.
  5. blutoTuesday, May 20th, 2014 at 2:42 pm
    The only reason this man's arrest was reported here is because he is a republican. Period. This would not even have been mentioned if Mr. Hounsell was a democrat. Journalism as we knew it is dead in this country. Way too one sided. It may have been Adams or Madison that said, "For our republic to survive we need a free and fair press." While the press is free, it is far from fair.298

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