Reported by Peter Y. Hong, Los Angeles Times July 20, 2006

An esteemed scientist known as the “father of gene therapy” was convicted on Wednesday of sexually abusing a child 50 years his junior.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury found USC research director William French Anderson, 69, guilty of four  counts of continuous sex abuse and lewd acts toward a child under 14. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 22 years.

Anderson, who had warned the victim that her accusations would prevent him from saving lives through medical cures and disillusion those who viewed him as ” a model of the right way to live” was jailed immediately.

Anderson, director of USC’s Gene Therapy Labortories, focused on stem cell research and correcting defective genes in fetuses.

His accuser, now 19-year old college student, is the daughter of Anderson’s second in command at the lab.  In addition to employing the girl’s mother, Anderson had been a close family friend.

The jury of 10 men and two women took a little more than a day to reach its verdict.  Silver haired and squared-jawed, Anderson, dressed in a gray wool suit, looked straight ahead as the jury verdicts were read by the court clerk.

His wife Kathyren Anderson, sat with her hands clasped and eyes closed as Blair Berk one of her husband’s lawyers, kept a hand firmly on her shoulder.

As judge Michael E. Pastor thanked the jury for their service, Anderson turned to his wife and smiled.  She did not meet his gaze.

Barrow Tarlow, Anderson’s lead defense attorney, told reporters he had no comment but would appeal.

Outside the courtroom, Deputy Dist. Cathryn F. Brougham said the verdict showed the jury ” did not allow his status, his education and professional reputation to stand in the way of the truth.”

The victim and her family did not appear in court.  Brougham said she spoke briefly by telephone  with  the victim after the verdict.  “She was very pleased and very emotional.”  Brougham said.

Prosecutors argued that Anderson’s position and influence were tools he used to manipulate the victim.  Deputy Dist. Attorny James W. Garison said the victim, who immigrated with her family form China and none of Anderson’s wealth or influence was  concerned about the apparent disparity of power.  ” She knew what she was taking on”, he said.

Anderson began teaching the girl taekwondo at this San Marino home in 1997, when she was 10 and Anderson was 60.  She claimed the abuse started during the lessons and continued for five years.

Anderson had also helped the girl with soccer and her studies.  He helped her get into Stanford Univeristy summer program an advised her on social skills such as how to introduce herself to people.

There were gifts:  a bicycle for Christmas, a prom dress.  The girl and her twin sister, who lived nearby in a comparitively modest house, swam in Anderson’s pool and built a treehouse with him in his spacious yard. They used the house for a sleepover party for their friends.

Anderson took the girl to dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pasadena.  He testified during the trial that he meant to expand her range of experiences; a minister who had been his mentor had done the same for him when he was a boy in Tulsa, taking him to his first nice restaurant and teaching him to eat oysters.

Anderson was educated at Harvard, Cambridge Univeristy in England.

Anderson developed a device to detect DNA evidence at crime scenes, and another for spotting biological weapons on the battle field, his lawyer Tarlow said.   Tarlow citied the work as a reason Anderson should be allowed to turn himself in to prison later rather than to be taken from the courtroom in handcuffs. The judge denied the request, but allowed Anderson to say goodbye to his wife.

Anderson will undergo evaluations by psychiatrists and prison officials, who the Judge Pastor can consider along with the geneticists record in sentencing, which was set for Nov. 17.