MAGICIAN CONVICTED OF USING A DRESSING ROOM SPY CAM

In April of 2010, I received information from one of my magician friends on Facebook asking that I publicize an accusation against Magician Rob Rasner for placing a hidden camera in one of the dressing rooms at the Magic Castle that had been used by his girlfriend during a performance.

After receiving this information from him, and after reading a number of public posts made by him on Facebook detailing the incident, I made some of  calls to confirm the veracity of these accusations.  

As a result of my efforts, I ended up speaking with an LA County Sheriff's Deputy that assists with security at the Castle. The then "accusation" was confirmed, but I was counseled to hold off on reporting it until there was an official charge or conviction that would place this story on the public record. This is in fact my personal policy. Unless there is something in the public record that cannot be ignored, I keep it to myself until there is.  

This was a situation that I was also told was to be addressed by the Magic Castle Ethics committee. According to Magic Castle Board Member Jon Armstrong, Mr. Rasner "has been banned from the Castle for life, he can never again be a member or even walk into the front door. He can not say that he is a member of the AMA. E&G ruled and the BOD agreed. Its all in the minutes.  Doesn't feel like its enough."

As the story was passed on to me at that time,  a key fob containing a camera was left in a dressing room with the intent of recording women changing. It was discovered by one of the the boyfriend of one of the ladies, Mr. Rasner was confronted and a complaint was filed.

Today, I received word that on Jan 12 2011 Magician, Rob Rasner pled "Nolo Contendre" (No Contest), was charged and convicted of a misdemeanor for placing a small spy camera in a young lady's dressing room at the Magic Castle on  April 11 2010 (LA superior Court Case #0CA01189).

Notes: I spoke with Mr. Rasner this evening offering him an opportunity to respond. I reviewed the information in this story with him,he confirmed the details of his conviction, but  declined to comment at this time. He confirmed via email that he plead "No Contest" to the charges and not "Guilty." The names of the offended parties are a matter of public record but have not been reported in this story in order to prevent them from appearing in connection with such a story when searching for them via any major search engine.