(KGTV) - A North County lawyer, once charged with possessing child pornography and secretly filming women at a local tanning salon, is allowed to practice law again.
A woman who contacted Team 10 said several North County residents are concerned he could be back in the community working as an attorney.
David Kaye faced two felonies and nine misdemeanors in early 2011. Investigators say he filmed women without their knowledge at an Escondido tanning salon. After a customer saw the recording device, police set up a sting operation and Kaye was arrested after an investigation that lasted several months.
Kaye entered a plea deal and pleaded guilty to two counts of secretly filming a person and two counts of peeking through a hole or private area. He received three years of formal probation. His law license was suspended in 2014.
In the last few months, he got his license back. In documents filed with the state bar court, it said Kaye petitioned five times for his suspension to be lifted. It cited a list of community service and other charitable work with no further arrests.
When questioned about his license being reinstated, Kaye wrote to Team 10: “… I don’t practice at all and I am retired with no intention of practicing again.”
He said he fought to get his law license reinstated because he “did not want to spend the rest of [his] life wearing the scarlet letter of being a suspended or disbarred attorney after 20 years of practice.” He added that he did everything he could to “follow the state bar requirements to resume [his] status as an attorney in good standing.”
Kaye said he wants to move on with his life and spends most of his free time doing volunteer work.
Team 10 reached out to the state bar for a comment, but they did not return any emails or phone calls.
