(Update Thursday, 11am – Joe Walker has posted bail and is no longer in jail.)
He’s going home. That’s what attorney Ron Bamieh said about his client, Dr. Andrew Bourne of Mammoth Lakes. He also commented on a declaration made by a Santa Barbara investigator.
Bamieh said that the terms of his client’s release include the order that he must stay in Mammoth Lakes or in Ventura County where his attorney is located. He is also allowed to attend court in Santa Barbara County. Asked if Bourne must wear an electronic device as a term of release, Bamieh said, “He may have to to avoid false accusations of his whereabouts.” The attorney said the Santa Barbara County Sheriff doesn’t have the ability to deal with electronic devices so Bourne may have to hire a private company.
As for the original bail set on Bourne and Joe Walker for a million dollars each, Bamieh called it “an extraordinarily high bail.” He pointed to the fact that Joe Walker faces a charge of actual sexual intercourse with a minor and Bourne does not, yet they have the same bail. Bamieh called it “ridiculous” to treat them the same. The million dollar bail was reduced to $750,000 on each man during a hearing Tuesday. At last word, Joe Walker remained in custody at the Santa Barbara County Jail.
Both Walker and Bourne face charges of contacting a minor for purposes of sex. Walker also stands charged with commission of a lewd act on a child of 14 or 15. Santa Barbara Deputy DA Mary Barron said in open court that she expects to file additional charges. Asked about that, Bourne’s attorney said he didn’t know what Barron was talking about. He said he has seen no discovery evidence yet.
Asked about the declaration filed in conjunction with bail in this case, Bamieh said it includes “a lot of suspicions and opinion” by a police officer, J.C. Hunter of the Santa Barbara Police force. The attorney said that the officer accused his client of improper conduct with a young girl, based on email communication. Bamieh said it’s a lot of opinion and the context of the emails is unclear. He hopes to have more evidence from the District Attorney’s office by the next hearing on January 19th.
Meanwhile, Mammoth Hospital CEO, Gary Boyd, issued an assurance of surgical coverage in Dr. Bourne’s absence. Boyd gave us this statement:
“We have been working on General Surgery coverage for the past week and Mammoth Hospital has call and clinic coverage starting Friday evening, January 13 through March 1. Key individuals providing coverage are: Bryan Fandrich, M.D., and Marc Sedwitz, M.D., two long-term physicians who have provided coverage at Mammoth Hospital, and two locum tenens surgeons. As the situation evolves with Dr. Andrew Bourne, we will continue to provide scheduling of providers for General Surgery, clinic, and call coverage and, if necessary, provide permanent staffing.
I realize that this is a difficult time for everyone but we are committed to providing high quality health care to our patients and community, including General Surgery. In addition, I would like to thank Northern Inyo Hospital for providing surgical back up to our Hospital these past few days.”
I’ve had first hand experience with Mammoth’s poor choice of doctors. What’s with the rumor of CDC looking into the hospital?
Maybe it’s just luck Rob but I’ve had excellent care at Mammoth Hospital. You can find winners and losers anywhere, and while I’ve definitely encountered a few of the latter elsewhere I’ve been treated only by the former in Mammoth. And no, I’m not affiliated with the hospital or with… Read more »
Bad luck on my part for sure. It was in the early 80’s hopefully they are at least drug testing doctors now.
I think we all agree that a crime is a crime. The guilty should be punished and victims should get compassion. But what if Bourne didn’t do it? Ken Warner is raising questions about guilt and innocence. Ken is not justifying criminal and immoral acts. He’s simply asking if the… Read more »
Yes! And thank you. You’re one of the few to get it….
Of coarse,nobody wants to see an innocent person get convicted of anything.But then again,lots of people are tired of seeing guilty people getting off with nothing,or little more than a slap on the wrist.Nobody knows what really happened here with these two Mammoth men and the 13 year old,but for… Read more »
Did you read through the links I posted above? It’s another case D. A. Barron brought to trial and was very controversial. Worth reading for perspective.
“Barron’s success in selling that story was abetted by (the) defense attorney’s … (“possible” – my word) failure to point out the logical improbabilities and logistical impossibilities.” Ken, the above quote is from one of your links…..the way that case went may have been the fault of the defense attorney’s… Read more »
Ken….Read the links you posted…and seems to me not all that controversial concerning the case you were mentioning…Where have we heard this before?….A star athlete convicted of a crime….and once convicted,he claims ineffective counsel,prosecutorial and police misconduct,and blaming the victim…not once but twice…..apparently saying she was the one that either… Read more »
I don’t know what the post was, but we have deleted some posts that make unsubstantiated allegations against Bourne or Walker.
Benett Kessler
To me it doesn’t even matter if anything was actually acted upon. The fact that 2 grown men didn’t have enough sense, decency or morals to stay away from this scenario is disgusting.
Must be nice to have that kind of $!
I hope they bump into my hungry ant hill in the woods!
This guy,Bourne,sounds like a real “good guy”……but nonetheless,sounds to me like some of those in Mammoth feel he should get a mulligan on this one…like what he “allegedly” did,and planned to do with this young teenager was “no big deal”.
Do we even know “what he (Bourne) planned to do with this young teenager” yet? It seems to me that for all the heat this case has generated, there has been very little in the way of known facts presented thus far. That’s not to say that where there’s smoke,… Read more »
Charles….Problem is “indiscretion”,when it happens to be with a 13 year old girl …That’s a crime….in fact,a big time felony.And you mention “Do we even know what he planned to do with this young teenager?”…My guess will be those 1,000 E-mails (allegedly)sent to her will give the D.A.a pretty good… Read more »
I don’t think anyone feels that way nor has said that. However, people do feel that his alleged crime is somewhat a lesser crime than Walkers…..and that they hope the judicial system is allowed to work.
http://mammothhospital.com/services/spc/GenSurg.php ANDREW C. BOURNE F.A.C.S.,is board certified in Surgery and Vascular Surgery by the American Board of Surgery. He completed a bachelor’s degree from Loma Linda University and a medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse NY where he also performed postgraduate training… Read more »
Apparantly no one has read “the sheet” that said Bourne was getting ready to flee with the girl, he had packed his car with weapons and 5k in cash. The emails even said that he and the girl considered suicide as an option to escape. But don’t worry, he’s not… Read more »
Bourne has also resigned from the school board. I read the Sheet article. It also said Bourne’s wife didn’t know about the 5k in the car, or the fact is was packed up and ready to hit the road with “enough supplies and weapons to last a few days.” So… Read more »
Wow! Loads in interesting tidbits here: http://www.independent.com/news/2012/jan/12/accused-mammoth-men-appear-court/ “In asking Judge George Eskin to keep the bail at the original $1 million, Senior Deputy District Attorney Mary Barron told the judge to consider the seriousness of the alleged crimes. She said the two men “nurtured” relationships with the girl in clandestine… Read more »
Kinda echoes EXACTLY what I said yesterday,doesn’t it.
Looks like the DA is on a fishing expedition at the expense of Bourne. You would think that the DA would need to produce something substantial other than a personal declaration prior to demanding a Million Dollars for Bail. I think we should think about that. We might just see… Read more »
Why the poor rating, It’s probably the truth. Some DA’s cannot be trusted. We might just find out that Bourne had nothing to do with this whole thing other than being a friend of Walker. That in itself does not make him guilty.