Judge, Acquitted of Bribing Stripper, Resigns

SAN FRANCISCO —  A Bakersfield judge, acquitted last year of bribing a stripper who faced charges in his court, has resigned during a disciplinary investigation, the state Commission on Judicial Performance said Monday.

Facing noncriminal charges of misconduct in office, Kern County Municipal Judge Alan E. Klein agreed to resign immediately and refrain from seeking or accepting judicial office, the commission said.

The commission said it was referring Klein’s case to the State Bar of California, which could consider the same evidence in deciding whether he is fit to practice law.

Klein could not be reached for comment.

Klein, 47, was appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr. in 1981 after seven years in the district attorney’s office.

The criminal charges against him involved dancer La Shay Munoz, 19. Munoz, charged with public nudity and lewd conduct last March, said Klein invited her to his chambers one Sunday and said, “Why don’t you dance for me?” She said she refused.

The charges were reduced the next day to disturbing the peace, at the prosecutor’s suggestion, and Munoz pleaded no contest. She was placed on probation for three years and fined $225, the same penalty other judges gave to five co-defendants.