HMB charity director pleads no contest to solicitation

Mike Niece, 65, director of Coastside Catholic Worker in Half Moon Bay, pleaded no contest to charges that he solicited sex from a woman who came to the charity looking for a job. Niece will server 10 days in county jail, reports Michael Manekin in the County Times.

The alleged victim, who speaks little English, had approached the police earlier the same day, and investigators set up a sting operation to catch Niece in the act of solicitation, said O’Keefe.

The woman agreed to place a recorded call to Niece from the police station, and the charitydirector repeated his offer for sex, O’Keefe said.

The woman was not a prostitute but a resident of Half Moon Bay, he added.
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In 2003, a 16-year-old volunteer at Coastside Catholic Worker told authorities that Niece had asked to kiss her, said Half Moon Bay Police Sgt. John Sanchez. The girl told police that she refused the kiss but submitted to a back rub, he said. The behavior sounded "inappropriate," but it was not criminal and the police did not bring the case to the district attorney’s office, Sanchez said.

Niece also ran into trouble in 2006 when a young transient passing through Half Moon Bay told police that she had been offered "touch therapy" by Niece, Sanchez said. However, during her brief stay in the city, the woman also accused several other people of sexual harassment. Police decided not to pursue the case against Niece because the woman appeared to have a mental condition, he said.