It's the best 'reason' yet for viewing child pornography: Los Angeles Commissioner Albert Abrams blames charges he allegedly viewed hundreds or at least 100 downloads of kiddie porn are related to a split personality--after a tumor's growth on his spine. The FBI says Abrams has been downloading pictures of kids as young as age four using the moniker "boywonderusa".
The commissioner appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa resigns August 4, 2011.
Albert Abrams has got more than alter ego, it seems. He's got a split personality. That's literally the claim by the man now accused of repeated child pornography downloads the FBI believes may have taken place at his Tarzana, California, home.
He wasn't going to resign over the porn allegations. Commissioner Albert Abrams refused to quit. Well, that was the story just two days ago, but it seems something drastically changed. The 63-year-old L.A. Commissioner in California -- appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- has just resigned from office August 4, 2011. The CBS video interview with now-resigned Los Angeles Commissioner Albert Abrams provides some staggering insight into how city officials seems to believe they can bluff the general public.
Interestingly, Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa -- the man who seems to flash that smile and show up at every possible city event (as well as those that would seems, at face value, to have nothing to do with him) -- doesn't seem to want to speak on the Abrams matter. Reporters waited to get a comment from Villaraigosa this morning. But it seems reports say the mayor instead "slipped through a back door" into the meeting.
Albert Abrams doesn't deny the child porn allegations. An FBI affidavit claims the commissioner's been viewing kiddie pornography downloads of children as young as age 4. But the commissioner's response seems to be it wasn't him. Or it was him -- but only part of him. CBS didn't ask which part of his supposed split personality it was interviewing.
When CBS asks Abrams if he enjoyed looking at the kiddie porn pictures -- which allegations say number at least one hundred and may be up to hundreds of porn pictures of young children -- the former L.A. commissioner says, "Not at all." CBS then asks Albert Abrams why, then, he was viewing the downloaded porn that he doesn't deny: Unbelievabley, the man appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa says, "Well, that's what we're trying to figure out." Yes, that would be a 'we' that Abrams referenced. It's unclear whether that 'we' is the split personalities that the commissioner insists were caused by a tumor on his spine -- or whether that 'we' is supposed to refer to some type of physician working with the former city official.
Los Angeles' (now prior) Commissioner Albert Abrams says he's still unclear on whether he was a target in an FBI investigation. That pesky FBI agency searched his Tarzana, California, home in a child pornography investigation. Abrams wouldn't have had to worry about anything -- if he hadn't been viewing child porn. And the commissioner may have gotten away with it had he been able to claim the kiddy porn viewing to be accidental. But 'accidental' usually refers to things that happen once, maybe twice -- not 100 times, per accusations.
Court affidavit says FBI agents went to Albert Abrams’ home looking for "any records, documents, applications or materials ... that identify any minor visually depicted while engaging in sexually explicit conduct." That affidavit also says FBI agents had "probable cause" to believe at least one computer at Abrams’ home contained child pornography on it.
Albert Abrams has now stepped down as president of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners in Los Angeles. Child pornography investigations are very far-removed from humorous. That said, it's nearly impossible not to laugh about the quotes and interviews related to the Abrams scandal. Abrams gives very likeable, albeit completely outlandish and unbelievable, TV interviews. Commissioner Abrams insists that a growth on his spine, for which he had surgery earlier in 2011, is responsible for that little lapse in sanity that led to his repeated downloading of pornography related to kids. That spinal growth, claims Abrams, is responsible for those downloading "behaviors that were completely out of character."
While Abrams offers the general reasoning behind those downloads that are alleged to be in the range of at least 100 instances, he simultaneously doesn't seem to want to get any specifics. His real 'character' must be battling the other one that likes porn.
Abrams isn't even apparently able to answer the media's basic question of whether those 'behaviors' included downloading of child pornography: Silly reporters --- according to Albert Abrams, "That’s a legal question. You’d have to talk to my attorney."
If Abrams' statements sound a bit confusing or contradictory, it's because they are: The commissioner told CBS in its interview that his 'medical condition' is responsible for those porn viewings. When CBS asks Abrams, “You just found out today that your medical condition triggered you to look at kiddie porn of toddlers as young as four?” Albert Abrams really says, “That’s correct.”
Albert Abrams seems to be describing some out-of-body experience, supposedly related to this split personality he claims: The commissioner sayas a split personality is related to a tumor in his spine that affected his brain. Yes, it was someone else who was watching that child porn -- not Los Angeles Commissioner Abrams. Abrams claims he was watching himself, watching the kiddie porn downloads, from a distance away -- somewhere else. The claim seems to be a sacred violation and twist on the stories of people who have nearly died -- or been technically dead for moments -- and who say they've seen a white light or were called back to earth to complete their time here.
Abrams told CBS that the "boywonderusa" moniker the FBI says he was using was based on his double personality: "That's what my split personality decided to do. That's what happens when you have tumors," the former commissioner told CBS. Other people that suffer from tumors probably don't agree with that little 'fact' conveyed by Albert Abrams -- and, in fact, may be highly offended by the remarks and claims.
It's all quite interesting that the medical condition from which Abrams claims to suffer has just been diagnosed, after the FBI allegations of the commissioner's involvement in illegal activity: In rather strange timing, it seems Albert Abrams just found out -- four days after the FBI happened to raid his home and seize a computer and evidence related to the child pornography -- that he's got a split personality and brain changes related to a spinal tumor.
Strangely, Albert Abrams isn't offering up any doctors' names related to that new diagnosis he's providing to the media as his reason for looking at toddlers in a sexual format. He told CBS he'd provide the news outlet a name. CBS says it hasn't happened, and that Abrams isn't returning calls on the subject of physicians' care
The commissioner's wife seems to really want to back the tumor-as-source for pornography downloading story. Kind of. Abrams' spouse says he was in a lot of pain related to the tumor surgically removed. It may be the second newest defense for child pornography: Pain. The courts may start getting clogged over this one. “He [Albert Abrams] was at the end of his rope with the pain," according to the commissioner's wife: "He was just trying to carry on," his spouse told CBS.
Until his resignation Albert Abrams had been leading a seven-member panel in Los Angeles, California, responsible for overseeing dozens of neighborhood councils. No one's arrested or charged in that FBI investigation yet. But Abrams' resignation speaks volumes about what's forthcoming. It seems Mayor Villaraigosa is actively distancing himself from the former commissioner.
When asked by CBS if Albert Abrams believes he should be serving jail time at all in relation to the child pornography downloads, the news outlet got an immediate "No." According to the former Los Angeles commissioner, he's done nothing criminal. That statement or belief may prove about as accurate as Albert Abram's other thoughts extended during the CBS interview. The former L.A. commissioner told CBS he saw no reason why he should resign from his position.
It seems someone swayed him from that idea: When CBS asked if he should quit his role as commissioner, Abrams told the outlet it was for the mayor to decide. Mayor Villaraigosa's decision seems very clear in the scandal.
Albert Abrams had been leading a seven-member panel in Los Angeles, California, responsible for overseeing dozens of neighborhood councils. No one's arrested or charged in that FBI investigation yet. But Abrams' resignation speaks volumes about what's forthcoming. It seems Mayor Villaraigosa is actively distancing himself from the former commissioner.
While the FBI gets future child porn charges in order, the agency's yanked computers and additional evidence reportedly from Albert Abrams' home residence in California. Virtually the only thing the mayor's office is stating in relation to the Abrams Scandal: Villaraigosa's office has issued official statement -- the Los Angeles mayor is accepting Albert Abrams' resignation.
Unfortunately for Commissioner Abrams, he happens to own a PR firm. Apparently he's not so adept at managing public relations for himself. Or, perhaps he is. His outlandish statements, made with a smile, are all stated with great confidence: It's that damned tumor that's responsible for all those downloads. It must be. Abrams has been appointee by Mayor Villaraigosa and served on the neighborhood council panel for roughly three years, since 2008. He's worked on city ballot measure campaigns in Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Walnut Creek -- and claims he does not have "a single blemish" on his public record.
"Zero. You probably know that I’ve done a lot to contribute to help the [Los Angeles] city, to help the neighborhood council system," says Albert Abrams.
Yeah, well, the lack of a blemish looks like it's about to become one of the worst acne breakouts the former commissioner might imagine.