Paula Poundstone Controversy: Charges, Sentence, and Comeback

Comedian Paula Poundstone’s 2001 arrest in Santa Monica began with felony charges of committing lewd acts on a girl under 14 and endangering four other children in her care, and ended months later with a no-contest plea to felony child endangerment and misdemeanor injury to a child after prosecutors dropped the sex-offense counts. She served no prison time, completed a residential alcohol rehabilitation program, lost and later regained custody of her three adopted children, and returned to stand-up.

What She Was Charged With

Santa Monica police arrested Poundstone on June 27, 2001, after what authorities described as a long investigation opened by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services following a report of an incident on May 19, 2001.¹²

She was booked on three felony counts of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a girl under 14, and one felony count of child endangerment involving four other children, two girls and two boys. The alleged incidents were said to have taken place on May 19 and June 6, 2001. She posted a $200,000 bond and was released. If convicted on all counts, she faced up to 13 years and four months in prison.¹

Poundstone had been a foster parent since 1993 and had adopted three children. At the time of the arrest she was also caring for two foster children. All five were removed from her home.³ Her attorney Steven Cron said the defense had cooperated with police throughout the investigation and that “she has done nothing wrong.” Her publicist called the charges “100 percent incorrect.”¹

At her July 3, 2001 arraignment in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Poundstone pleaded not guilty and waived her right to a speedy trial. Judge Bernard Kamins ordered all case documents sealed to protect the children’s identities.⁴⁵

How the Case Was Resolved

On September 12, 2001, Poundstone entered a no-contest plea to one count of felony child endangerment and one misdemeanor count of inflicting injury upon a child. In exchange, prosecutors dropped all three felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child.²

District Attorney’s office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said prosecutors had determined there was “inappropriate touching that caused mental or physical injury to one of the girls,” but concluded “it did not constitute a lewd act.”²

Poundstone released a written statement the same day: “The lewd conduct charges against me were dropped because they weren’t true. I pled no-contest to the child endangerment-injury charges because they were. My drinking helped to create a dangerous situation for the children.”⁶

The Sentence

Judge Kamins sentenced Poundstone on October 10, 2001, to five years of probation with detailed conditions:⁷⁸

180 days in a residential alcohol treatment facility, with no stand-up performances allowed until the program was completed.
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, one year of counseling, and a child abuse prevention program.
Random drug and alcohol testing, a ban on drinking, and a ban on entering bars or liquor stores, with an exception permitting her to perform in nightclubs.
200 hours of community service, a $1,000 fine, and restitution for the children’s therapy costs.
A permanent ban on serving as a foster parent or adopting additional children, plus an order not to hit, strike, or use corporal punishment on her children.

She had already spent 125 days at Promises, a Malibu residential rehabilitation center, by the time of sentencing.⁷

The Alcohol Angle

From the outset, the defense tied the case to Poundstone’s drinking. Cron said her “involvement with alcohol was the basis for the allegations” and that her drinking problem “led to poor judgment.”⁹ The endangerment count grew out of a June 6, 2001 incident in which she drove four of her children to get ice cream while intoxicated.¹⁰ Cron said Poundstone had an “intermittent alcohol problem that’s existed for a while” and that the family had already agreed she should enter live-in rehab before the charges were filed. She checked into Promises before her arraignment.

About a month after sentencing, on November 13, 2001, Poundstone admitted to a probation violation. A progress report from Promises told Judge Kamins she had relapsed using “unprescribed drugs or medications.”¹¹ She was remanded to county jail for about three hours before being sent back to the treatment facility. Her privilege to leave for supervised visits with her children was revoked, and the judge warned that further relapses would extend her stay.³

Years later, Poundstone took responsibility publicly. On NPR’s Talk of the Nation in 2006 she said, “I deeply regret the mistakes that I made. And by the way, it was totally my responsibility, not anybody else’s at all,” and added, “I don’t ever want to do anything that would in any way endanger my children.”¹²

What Happened to the Children

At the time of the arrest, Poundstone was raising three adopted children and two foster children between the ages of 2 and 12.³ All five were removed. The two foster children were permanently reassigned, and she was barred from ever fostering again.¹⁰

Her three adopted children were placed with a court-approved foster parent who was a friend, and she was allowed daily monitored visits during the separation. The custody case ran 18 months. On December 11, 2002, a juvenile court hearing in Santa Monica formally restored full legal custody. Her attorney Rich Pfeiffer called the hearing a “formality” because the children had already been living at her Santa Monica home for several days, and said she had been “alcohol-free for 18 months.”¹³

The financial cost was heavy. Poundstone later said the proceedings left her with “humungous debt,” and she sold her Santa Monica home to cover legal fees, court-ordered psychotherapy, and monitoring costs.¹⁴

The Career After

Before her arrest, Poundstone had been earning as much as $1.2 million a year at theaters, colleges, and corporate events, and the charges put that on hold.¹⁵ She finished the 180-day rehab stay in December 2001 and returned to the stage almost immediately, with a low-key show in Santa Cruz that month and an Anaheim theater date in February 2002.¹⁶ On January 22, 2002, she gave her first public interview since the arrest, on NBC’s Dateline with Maria Shriver, telling Shriver, “I didn’t do anything sexual, and I didn’t hit anybody.”¹⁷

Not every venue took her back. She later told Time, “Did every place want me back? Absolutely not. There are some places that will probably never have me back. But I have a certain core of fans that continue to come see me.”¹⁸¹⁹²⁰

1
ABC News. Comedian Paula Poundstone Arrested
2
Los Angeles Times. Poundstone Pleads No Contest
3
Los Angeles Times. Poundstone Jailed Briefly for Probation Violation
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CNN. Poundstone Arraigned on Child Abuse Charges
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CNN. Poundstone Court Hearing
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Everett Herald. Comedian Cleared of Lewdness With Kids
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CNN. Poundstone Sentenced
8
Recordnet. Poundstone Gets Rehab, 5 Years Probation
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ABC News. Paula Poundstone Case
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ABC News. Poundstone Sentenced to Probation
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CBS News. Poundstone Bombs in Rehab
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NPR. The Ups and Downs of Paula Poundstone
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CBS News. Poundstone Gets Her Kids Back
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Los Angeles Times. Poundstone Regains Custody
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New York Times. Hard Road Back for Paula Poundstone
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SFGate. No Laughing Matter: Comedian Poundstone
17
Vindy Archives. Poundstone Speaks on Abuse Charges
18
Everett Herald. Paula Poundstone Admits Mistakes, Keeps on Going
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CapRadio. Paula Poundstone Talks About Her 25 Years on the Show
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Paula Poundstone Official Site. Tour Dates