Law&Crime Sidebar - Celebrity Hairstylist Busted in Florida Teen Sex Sting

Episode Date: August 9, 2025

Ryan Thomas Pearl, 37, was recently arrested by Miami-Dade County police during an undercover operation. The hairstylist to the stars had reportedly been messaging with a 15-year-old girl he���d met two years earlier while doing her hair. When the girl’s mother reported Pearl to the police, they used the teen’s accounts to lure Pearl to a meet-up. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber got unique insight on how these operations go down from Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Save time for your accountants with a clean, modern accounting software. Check out Odoo for a free 15-day trial at: https://www.odoo.com/sidebaraccountingHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. We are concerned that the same way that he was engaging in sending photos of his penis to this 13-year-old girl and attempting to pay her for set or attempting to gift her items and also ask for sex, we are concerned that he may have other clients that are underage, that unfortunately may be subjected to the same kind of behavior. by this defender. I understand.

Okay. A hairstylist to the stars is in really hot water after Miami police say they caught him in a sting. They claim he'd not only been soliciting a teenage client for sex, but also bombarding her with explicit photos. We've got our hands on the probable cause affidavit that lays out the kind of messages he was allegedly sending this teen girl and what he brought with him to what he thought was a meetup with her, but was actually an undercover operation.

And the sheriff behind a task force that targets, joins us to give us some unique insight. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, we got to talk about 37-year-old Ryan Thomas Pearl. He has made quite a name for himself in the world of celebrity and fashion. He has styled the hair of some of today's biggest stars. Haley Bieber, Sophie Turner, Halsey, NBC Miami. Reports that Pearl worked out of Olin's salon in Miami as well as New York City. So he's a big. deal. He's a big deal. And according to a post on his Facebook page on July 16th, Pearl had been selected as an artistic ambassador for Redkin. This is a very well-known beauty brand. Well,

I'll tell you, that ambassadorship, likely in danger now as Pearl faces reportedly six charges in Miami-Dade County, Florida, all connected to alleged solicitation of an underage girl for sex. Those reported charges are use of a computer to seduce, solicit, or lure a child to engage in sexual conduct, traveling to meet a minor for the purpose of sexual contact, two counts of electronic transmission of material that's harmful to minors, possession of cocaine, and contributing to the delinquency of a child. Now, all except the last charge are felonies in Florida. This is very serious. Now, according to an arrest affidavit that was filed with the court,

The alleged victim in this case is a 15-year-old female who is a client of pearls. Apparently met him when he first styled her hair at age 13. And after getting a report about inappropriate behavior between the alleged victim in Pearl, authorities say they were able to use the teen social media accounts to trick him into a meetup. A lot to get into here. And as we go through each section of this, including the sting operation, who better to talk about this, then we're bringing back on to sidebar, of Chris Swanson of Genesee County, Michigan, leader of a task force that goes after alleged

predators. Chris, thank you so much for taking the time. It's good to see you. Always, brother. So I've got to ask you, I want to take your pulse on this. You have a hairstylist. It's an interesting position because it allows him, assuming these allegations are true, to get up close and personal with people of all different ages, makes them feel comfortable. And maybe they're not being supervised directly by a parent. Usually, look, it's a benign profession, but you take these allegations, it's true. It is one of those professions where it does put people in contact with children. What should we be thinking about that? Well, what makes this completely different than most cases is the word celebrity. The fact that he had her in a confined space

since she was 13, this is what predators do. They identify a victim. They identify their prey. and then they start building that trust. And in this case, it took two years. But what you see is a pattern that is repeated across the board when it comes to predator and prey. But that celebrity part, Jesse, is unique because many times that word force and coercion, that's how this person started out is coercing this individual thing. Maybe he used the celebrity status of his position.

I can help you. I can make you beautiful. I don't know what the chats or what his mindset. it was, but I guarantee he probably used his celebrity status to lure her in more than other predators would. And in this case, it's because of the people that are his clients. Hey, so I know many of you out there might be true crime fans, but is anyone in a business of some kind, too? If so, let me ask you something. How much time do you think your business team is spending just in spreadsheets, chasing down receipts, trying to make sense of endless

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So all you have to do is just review and validate. That's it. Their bank reconciliation, next level. Odu connects with over 28,000 banks to automatically match your transactions with your financial records to give you pinpoint accuracy. There's no more guesswork. Need reports? Guess what? Odo's got everything.

From your balance sheet to your cash flow statements, professionally formatted, instantly accessible. So if you've been doing all this accounting work manually, you can stop right now. Automate invoices, vendor bills, accounting workflow with Odu today. Get a free 15-day trial today at Odu.com slash sidebar accounting. Let me focus on that for a second because the celebrity aspect is interesting and assuming these allegations are true for the moment, okay? If someone could let their guard down and be like, wow, someone is renowned in the industry, works with these celebrities, you know, they can be trusted. You know, there's one thing to say, yeah, you use celebrity to maybe say, you know, I can get you this, can just get you that. But, you know, a renowned figure in the industry, does that build up a level of trust?

Would a younger person or any kind of alleged victim say, I would never in a million years think someone like that would engage in anything like this? That's a factor, right? That absolutely is a factor. I look at here at Michigan, the Larry Nassar case of Michigan State. Oh, yeah. Look at the Sandusky case, you know, back in Penn State. I mean, a lot of these celebrities, obviously, you know, beat idiot in those celebrities that can take their position many times and they lure people in because of that celebrity staff. So he's innocent until proven guilty. That's clear. But we got to get into some of the details from this police affidavit.

But, and for purposes of the conversation, we're talking about what this can mean. So we're not going to be, we won't be talking about all of it, as some of the information is really graphic, but you're going to get the idea. So here's what it says, quote, on Saturday, July 26, 2025, the victim's mother responded to the police department to report inappropriate conversation between her 15-year-old daughter and the defendant via social media platforms. The witness was interviewed and explained to detectives while she was home on Sunday at approximately 2042 hours. she received two Apple Wallet notifications. The notifications were for two separate transaction deposits from a phone number sent directly to her daughter's account. She then asked her daughter, who sent the money,

and her daughter told her it was from the hairstylist. Let's just stop right there, Chris. Important, this is strange, right? In the sense, not strange. I guess this is a difficult balance between parents and their children. You want to maybe know what's going on in their social media, and maybe want to have access to their bank accounts, their financial accounts. I know there's a level of independence, but oversight and seeing what they're doing,

particularly in a digital age, that's a very important balance. And what do you advise parents to do? Your kid's business is your business. The brain doesn't even fully developed age 25. That's why we have that phrase, survive until you're 25. This is a 15-year-old that, thank God the mom was the watchdog on watching these transactions. and dug deeper. I agree. There is a point where you want to give independence to your kids, but that independence has to come with some accountability and protection. And if it wasn't for that

mom, I'm convinced this act would have taken place because she stopped it at the most critical time, the exchange of money. And that money was a transaction that was going to lead to the assault. Well, from there, the girl's mother discovered these alleged inappropriate messages between her daughter and this hairstylist. According to the affidavit, the teen and pearl spoke over text, TikTok, Snapchat, social media, right, Chris, is a tool that has now morphed. It used to be online chat rooms, but now you have all these different platforms, A, probably hard to monitor everything, but it is a tool to get close to monitors.

How minors, how dangerous is it? Well, you have to look at apps that are now the vehicle for, communication. That's usually what I call the knock on the door, Snapchat. Everybody has Snapchat, Instagram, you know, TikTok. That's the knock on the door to take them to a chat room or a text message conversation, which is offline. And a lot of times these predators do that because they want to isolate them, which is part of the grooming tactic. I select them, put them in the corner, have one-on-one conversations, and that's where it leaves into ultimately the meets. And by the way, going back to this Apple Wallet account, we don't know the amount that Pearl is alleged to have seen. this teen, but, you know, money can be a great motivator for people of any age, but for a teenager, especially, something to keep in mind. So the girl's mom reported everything to the police right away, and then they set up a sting operation. So the goal was to try to lure Pearl into meeting up with this girl. The thing about that was, it was actually an investigator who

was messaging with him. So the affidavit includes some of the messages between them, which quickly turned graphic. But I do want to point out something that we found interesting. It appears in the messages that Pearl says he's 28. In real life, he's 37. Now, Chris, something you see in these situations, an adult, not necessarily claiming they're also underage, but saying they're younger, maybe to make that age gap seem not as drastic, maybe to let defenses down, maybe make an alleged victim more comfortable. Again, these allegations, that's what they are, he's innocents who are proven guilty, but for purposes of the conversation, what do you think? That's premeditated.

You know, and these are rationalizations that many times predators use to try to reduce the anxiety that their victims have. And so if you're talking to a 37-year-old versus a 15-year-old, which he knew, based on the information that I too have, that she said, meaning the police, you know, I'm only 15. So you see this kind of bringing down the age gap to make it, quote, more normal. That was all premeditated. There's no question. and they try to do that to not only help the victim, but sometimes it's rationalization in their own mind. And that's why this predator prey relationship

is so important to digest and to break apart, just like we're doing right now, for others to learn from. So the girl's mother recently spoke anonymously with NBC6 saying, quote, I was upset. I was like sick in my stomach. I was so disappointed, you know, like how could this happen to my daughter, but I know it happens every day? What is a 37-year-old man doing asking a 15-year-old girl?

What size of shoe are you? I want to make you happy. You're pretty. Let's keep this between you and me. As soon as I saw that, I knew his intention was to take advantage of my daughter. Now, here are some of the messages that Pearl allegedly sent, again, to this 15-year-old who was actually, remember, an undercover officer thinking. Again, we can't include all of them.

They're very, very explicit. But here are just a few. You're mad, cool, and fun to talk to. Just didn't know if you cared that I said because I'm older. It's not that easy to get pregnant like that. Maybe you will send me more selfies now. Okay, I'll bring you money too, babe, so you have money to do stuff with your friends. According to Miami police, Pearl also allegedly sent a photo of himself wearing

swimming trunks and then images of his naked body. Chris, your reaction. You know, you mentioned the shoe size. You mentioned money. be with your friends. That's all grooming. So any parent out there that sees a message, even if it's not as graphic as what you just explained, when you see those communications to an underage kid red flag, because they're trying to break down those defenses, they're trying to bring them in a position where you're giving them gifts and rewards. That's all part of filling a need in the grooming

algorithm. And when he takes it to the next step by exchanging pictures, again, it breaks down the defenses. You're talking a 15-year-old and a 37-year-old. He knows exactly. what he's doing and by sending photos now she's probably thinking or any victim well if they sent this then i should send something back it's it's all part of that psychological dominance why sent you pictures you send me pictures and that's where the child pornography comes in with underage photos being sent back and forth and being held on phones this is all part of the process and and i don't know the background of pearl but i can tell you this is probably not his first interaction or first communication to somebody underage well here's the thing

We don't know that for sure, but I hear exactly what you're saying. I will tell you, you know, speaking to you, speaking to Chris Hansen, when you ultimately confront these suspects automatically, many times it's, well, that's not what I was intending in the conversation. That's not what I meant. And maybe that's even a defense that they go with a trial that goes to trial. You know, these messages are being misconstrued. I find it difficult based on these messages unless they say someone else was sending them or there was some issue. in the way they were retrieved, which I think are uphill arguments. It's very difficult to suggest there was a benign reason for this because, look, it's not

illegal for a 37-year-old to have a conversation with a 15-year-old, but the contents of it and the actions that are taken are quite significant. How do you get past that? How do you say this is what has crossed the line? This is not innocent. This is not benign when you're having these conversations with the suspects. Well, I can tell you, in the last seven and a half years, when we have been working ghost, we started in 2018, have arrested 240 Predators plus.

We've not had a single case that we've lost because we found out that the person was actually there benevolently to save someone's life. It's a rationalization. It's a defense mode. And then when you confront them with the chats, you confront them with their own words, their photos, then that defense is over. But I think the key is the crossover. It's not uncommon for our chatterers to chat 100, 200 people in a night. And maybe some of them will go down, even past the age where they've been told that they're 13, 14, or 15. And they chat a little more, and then they flake out.

But it's the ones that do not stop. And in this particular case, the agency that chatted on behalf of the victim did a phenomenal job by reiterating. You know I'm only 15. You know I'm only 15. Like that is the crossover. And so when he went there, and of course he had, you know, condoms, you had cocaine. That is commitment. And when that happens, there's no crossing back to, I was just testing the waters. There's a fine line. But when they're taking actions, that's when

they're what we call committed to the crime. And that's when the arrest of the charges stick. I'm Saruti, one of the hosts of RedHounded, a multi-award-winning weekly true crime podcast. And we have just taken a big old deep dive into the case everyone is talking about. Aaron Patterson and the Mushroom Mass Murders. 29th of July, 2023 in the small town of Leon Gatha in Australia, five people sat down for lunch. Within a week, three of them would be dead, and one of them would be in a coma for two months. Was the host, Erin Patterson, the world's most unlucky cook, or a cold-blooded killer? To find out, join us over two episodes as we analyse all the gritty details, including what happened at that fateful lunch,

the aftermath, the investigation, the trial, and of course, all the lies. only on red-handed Listen to red-handed wherever you get your podcasts or listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music or Wondry Plus. Let's talk about that because the court paperwork

also included messages that the officer had sent to Pearl pretending again to be this 15-year-old messages like, I am very shy, please don't, do you care that I'm 15? No, sorry, I'm just new to this, please don't get mad.

And this allegedly shows that Pearl knows he's talking to a minor and being extremely sexually graphic. The affidavit states the conversation continued regarding plans to meet the victim on the following day for the purpose of sexual activities with the use of condoms. On Wednesday, July 30th, 2025 during an undercover operation, the defendant drove to the incident location provided by the undercover detective with the intent to pick up the victim to engage in sexual activities.

The defendant further purchased electronic cigarettes, commonly known as vapes, for the victim's personal use. At approximately 1845 hours, the defendant arrived at the incident location driving a 2021 light blue Mercedes-Benz S-580. Records check revealed the vehicle is registered to the defendant. A felony stop was conducted on the vehicle by the city of Miami tactical robbery unit. The defendant was identified as the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle. He was given verbal commands to exit the vehicle and was taken into custody. Okay, so first of all, Chris, let's talk about the conversations.

You will hear a defense attorney say this was entrapment, right? That it was the conversations, the proactive messages from the undercover agent posing as the 15-year-old to the suspect that this isn't fair. Walk us through what investigators are taught about the questions or the comments they pose to the suspects. What is that line? Why is it that how do you avoid an entrapment kind of defense? Well, I can tell you, entrapment is probably the most used defense that any attorney in the United States

is going to use trying to get their client off. It was entrapment. Let me explain. Attrapment is very as you understand. If I want to do something to get you, Jesse, I would focus just on you, I would target you, and I would try to draw you in. That's entrapment.

If I just throw out the bait, if I give people exits, and let them know the agents, In this case, that investigator did a phenomenal job by saying, you know I'm only 15. I'm new to this. Can you help me? Many times we'll tell our predators to go stop and get a particular drink at a party store, and they do that and bring the drink to the location.

That shows intent. So if the entrapment defense is used, but we completely disprove that by saying anybody could have joined this conversation or left the conversation, that's not entrapment. But we give outs, and it only bolsters our case. And that's why majority of these cases plead because a defense attorney has no defense when somebody shows up at a 2021 Mercedes and they have vapes. And without even seeing the conversation, maybe the detective even said, hey, bring me some vapes. And so he went and got the particular vapes for that victim.

This is all part of the investigation. They did a phenomenal job. This is not entrapment. It's a good criminal case. And if the suspect says, hey, are you an undercover officer? Are you really 15? You can go with that conversation because, in a way, it goes to consciousness of guilt. The fact that they're asking those questions shows what they're doing is wrong.

So what's the limit in terms of what you can, what truthful comments or, you know, maybe misleading comments you can give to the suspect? It's undercover. It's an investigation. And law enforcement is not only protected from doing these other cover investigations, but you, play a role in order to protect the community and to solve crimes. And in this particular case, yes, they're talking to law enforcement. There's no obligation for them to say, by the way, I'm law enforcement for pretending to be a 15-year-old. That's part of what undercover operators do, whether it's narcotic world, human trafficking world, whether it's stolen vehicles. This is part

of what law enforcement does in order to find people that are trying to hurt our community, in this case, a young child. And it helps to prove intent, which is key. in these cases. So now you have this takedown. What are these takedowns like? I mean, these are people now. The spotlight is on them. I wonder if they automatically know what is going on. Do they tend to resist? What is the danger? What are the protocols in place? When now you have to take down the suspect? Yeah, that's a great question for your audience. You know, by the time that vehicle rolls up on the scene that has already been identified in the chat and confirmed that goes back to your word intent they knew exactly where they're going what they were doing what they were

bringing when that vehicle arrives there's an outer perimeter that already has identified they're on the way and different agencies at different primeters but there's uh undercover operators and surveillance teams that are watching you know what vehicle this person probably drives they saw it roll in the parking lot And when he got to that particular spot, they may even say pull into the second, you know, driveway left of whatever gas station, whatever the location was. As soon as that happens, many times there's a tactical advantage already set up so the mark units can come up and make the arrest. There's no misunderstanding that when that individual looks in the side view mirror, the rear rear rear and they see law enforcement, that the gig is up. And many times they freeze. They don't know what to do.

they've realized that for whether it's days, weeks, or months prior to this, that they've been building this fantasy up and they have now committed and they know that the world is about to end. So to answer your question, few resist, but when they do resist, they'll take off. They are running scared and that's where the outer perimeter comes in and we contain the scene and we arrest them. But the thing is, during these times, we want to build rapport because we want to ultimately solicit a confession from this individual, even though we have all the chats, we have all the software, we have everything that proves the case. There's very little that's better than a person actually saying what they did and why they did it. So a lot of times

we're going hands-on, we're securing, patting down for weapons, and we're already starting to build the rapport. Is your name so-and-so? We got you covered. You're safe. We're going to take you out of here. You know, what's your password to your phone and boom, they put it out there. These are all things to kind of de-escalate, but also to try to divert their attention from resisting to compliance. No, that's a great point. And I know you also, you know, searched the person and you search the vehicle. So what happened here? Investigators say they searched Pearl's vehicle. They took several items as evidence. So Pearl reportedly had nearly $300 in cash in his pocket. Two different iPhones were found in his car. And according to the affidavit, quote, on the driver's side

floorboard, a small, clear plastic baggie containing suspected pink cocaine, which was also collected. In the center console of the vehicle, an additional small, clear plastic baggie containing suspected pink cocaine was collected. And we've talked about pink cocaine before here on Saibar. It's a party drug, usually a mix of several different kinds of drugs, ketamine, cocaine, ecstasy. And police say Pearl had just over 10 grams in his possession. So, Chris, you know, that adds to this, right, the suspected drugs that were found. Without a doubt, and it's not uncommon they'll bring alcohol or they'll even ask that the victim. what do you like to party with?

You know, sometimes I bring a bag of weed, but the 10 grams of pink cocaine is key. The other thing that's key that you said, two cell phones. Why would somebody have two cell phones? Because they have their normal phone that their people know and they use, and then many times they have a drop phone. And that's, I'm just guessing,

where that conversation took place, perhaps. But the two cell phones, the cocaine, the condoms, it's all part of that intent. It's all part of the crime itself. And every one of those variables play into why this individual was arrested, why they were charged, and ultimately why they were convicted, whether it be by a jury or a plea. This case is closed. So going back to the affidavit says, quote, on the passenger seat of the vehicle in plain view,

a white plastic bag was located and inside there were two black and gold magnum condoms and one lifestyle condom and four new blueberry vapes. Police say Pearl was read his rights, agreed to speak with them. NBC6 reports that Pearl admitted to buying a vape for the girl asking her to be his girlfriend. He also allegedly admitted to sending her nude photos of himself, traveling to meet her. Chris, it's exactly like you said, how do you elicit more information, how do you elicit a confession? I know these are allegations at this point, but oh boy, wouldn't want to be his defense attorney unless they're going to try to argue police violated his rights in some sort of way. And that's simply not the case because obviously just hearing from what I researched before

we are talking and then talking with you, this agency did a phenomenal job at walking through this case. Once the mom turned over the phone, they were able to do it without alerting the individual. You got two styles of communication. So that chatter had to learn how that 15-year-old had been communicating with Pearl and pick it up. So Pearl had no idea that another person, another mind is carry on the conversation. But the flip side is that is his dopamine drive to fulfill this fantasy was so strong that he probably overlooked some obvious signs that somebody else was actually chatting. And then it goes back to what you said in the front seat, you know, having a bag.

That's probably a shopping bag that he went and picked up. And I'm just surmising on the way to this location of sex with a 15-year-old, underage girl, who he had met again when she was 13 as a client. So you have this work relationship, as you said before, the mom is probably sitting, you know, 10 feet away or maybe she went down the road. This individual isolated her, build the rapport, set up the trap, and then was ultimately going to fulfill his fantasy. And all those things that are in his vehicle, that's all part of the crime. It's all part of the investigation. And I'm convinced if they didn't stop it, and that was a 15-year-old, that this act would have been done.

And with multiple condoms, who knows how many times. So after his arrest on July 30th, Pearl was charged with those sex offenses that I mentioned. He was held until a bond hearing the next day where he appeared before Judge Mindy Glazer. Sir, can you afford to hire an attorney? I'm not sure how much an attorney would cost. Do you own your home? No, I don't. All right.

I don't believe they qualify. Okay. You don't qualify. Do you have the financial means to hire an attorney? So it would be hard because I work on commission based. Do you have any savings? Not much, no. All right, I'll appoint the public defender's office for you for purposes of this first

appearance hearing, subject to financial verification. So I need a moment to review the arrest affidavit for probable cause. I had a chance to review the arrest affidavit. So Ms. Fai is what you want to say anything? Yes, Trowder. based on the four corners of the a form, the state would be requesting an extremely elevated bond. This is the concern that we are having with regards to the defendant, both for the safety of the victim in this case. This is someone he has known since she was 13 years old. She is now

15, so he's at least known her for two years, knows her travels, knows her whereabouts. We are concerned for the safety of the community, specifically the victim. We would be requesting an elevated bond in the amount of $500,000 with a GPS total lockdown component. Your Honor, the state is also concerned that this defendant is in fact a flight risk. As Your Honor mentioned before, he is originally from New Jersey and it appears he has clients all over the United States. So it's our concern based on the information that we have, that he does travel to do the hair and the hairstyle is for, I guess, a list celebrities. So it's our concern that he has the means to travel outside of the state of Florida. And he's going to travel to cut hair.

Yes, Your Honor. So how is that a danger to the community? Well, considering that his clients can range from apparently 13-year-olds to whatever age, we are concerned that the same way that he was engaging in sending photos of his penis to this 15-year-old girl and attempting to pay her for set or attempting to gift her items and also ask for sex, we are concerned that he may have other clients that are underage that, unfortunately, may be subjected to the same kind of behavior by the. this defendant. Okay. Thank you. Ms. Corey, did you want to say anything?

Mr. Pearl has no objection to only having adult clients. That's not an issue for him, Judge. The judge made sure that Pearl knew his bond was going to come with some conditions. Sir, I'm entering a stayaway order from the 15-year-old child whose initials are AG. No contact with the alleged victim either directly, indirectly in person in writing by telephone or through third parties. and no contact with the victim through social media or other electronic means. You must stay at least 500 feet away from the victim, her home school, and place of, her home school, and any place of employment at all times. Do you understand the stay away order, sir?

Yes, Your Honor. No texting, email, TikTok, Instagram, or any Snapchat or anything else with this child. In fact, you should not have any unsupervised contact with any minor children. Do you understand that? Yes, Your Honor. Okay, thank you. So apparently, an attorney appeared virtually on behalf of the victim's family, spoke briefly. And then you have a public defender who was assigned to Pearl for this hearing objected to a large bond amount for the defendant.

I see Mr. Santestaband, you're the victim's attorney. Did you care to say anything, sir? Yes, Your Honor. Good afternoon. I would echo Ms. Baez's concerns and on behalf of my client, the victim and her family we would ask for. the same level of bond and restrictions that Ms. Bias previously mentioned. Okay. Ms. Corr, let me hear from you. There's an issue where I don't know if there's any probable cause issues.

Judge, Mr. Pearl cannot afford a $500,000 bond. That's excessive. He has no prior record, Judge. He does work for a living. I would ask if you would just set a reasonable bond, Judge, standard bond, for Mr. Pearl you've already issued a stay-away order he'll honor the stay-away order he has no

minors living in the home with him so that will not be an issue he's agreed not to have any minor clients judge and that way that will not be an issue all right did you have any probable cause argument just with regard to the unauthorized alien judge okay with regard to count

one using a computer to solicit a child for engaging in sexual conduct there's probable cause for that charge for that charge. It's a third-degree felony. That bond is 25. Actually, State wanted an elevated bond.

From what I read here, I think you're right. But that's not going to be 500,000. That's excessive. And it's not, this is just the first appearance hearing. It's not, he hasn't been found guilty of anything, and he's presumed not guilty. So count one, I'll set it at $5,000. Count two, using a computer services for meeting a child. There's no enhancement for the unauthorized alien.

So Ms. Bias, would that be a second-degree felony then? It drops down one? No, I don't think the unauthorized alien enhances it. So it would. It would. It's a second-degree felony, Judge. Thank you. Count two will be $7,500.

Let me just make a note of my finding. things. Count three and four, there's probable cause for sending, I'm sorry, count three and four, there's probable cause for sending transmissions harmful to minors. And I'm going to set a bond on count three at $5,000 and count four at $5,000. Count five, five possession of cocaine, there's probable cause for that. They found a bag of Tusi, which is the pink cocaine, and that's $2,500, and then count six, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, I'm sorry, contributing to the dependency of a minor. That will be a $1,000 bond. That's a first-degree misdemeanor. So, let me see. Anything else? I'm not imposing house arrest, total lockdown.

Sir, you've been warned. If you violate this court's order, if you contact the victim in any way, or you pick up a new law violation, you will get re-arrested and you will be locked up in jail until the trial. understand? Absolutely, Your Honor. Thank you. Okay. If I may, I guess the state's concern at this point is the possibility of him having other minor clients that are victims. Is Your Honor, is it advising him or ordering him not to have any, you know, clients come in, even with parents? If there's a parent supervising him, he can do whatever he does for hairstyling with a with a parent who wants to utilize the services as long as they're present. He cannot be alone with any child under 18. He said already he will not have children as his clients. That's

up to him. It's probably a wise move. But I mean, I don't know if there's an isolated incident or what, but it's certainly concerning facts. The facts alleged it's the rest of affidavit are quite concerning. Stay away from the victim. You see the victim has an attorney here who I'm sure is going to do whatever he has to do to protect his client's rights. And addition to the state. All right. We're done. Have a nice day. Thank you for coming in. And in the end, Judge Glazer agreed that $500,000 was too high a bond, lowered it to $26,000 with those conditions that he stay away from the victim, not contact her in any way. But, Chris, is that enough? You know, how often do you see alleged predators trying to contact victims

while they're out on bond, while the case is pending or is going to be progressing? well thankfully we don't have that as an epidemic they are so terrified at this point many times are caught in the system their face and their cases put on public display like this they want to go deep six and not even be seen and don't forget a bond is not set for punitive reasons a bond in america is simply set for people to come back to the court case it's a it's a financial guarantee but bonds are also seen as many times people on the outside uh is this case taken serious by to courts. And obviously, the one who suggests a half a million dollar bond, that's because they're standing up for their victim. And then the defense attorney and the judge will say,

well, what are the likelihood of them coming back? He lives in the area, blah, blah, blah, whatever the criteria was, 26,000. And people are going to be offended by that. I think that's a very low bond, especially his status. But the bottom line is only the courts, only the judges can answer to what bonds are set. We have, we can object, we can give our input, but ultimately the court decides, and that's what you have to go with. And talk about that, according to court records, Pearl apparently bonded out on August 1st. He's scheduled for an arraignment at the end of the month, and we will see which way this case goes. Chris Swanson, my gosh, thank you so much for coming on.

You are terrific, my man. Thank you. Thank you, brother. Be safe. All right, everybody, that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus.

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