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Friday, March 19, 2004

Señor Pie Wanted Prosecutor Killed, Police Say

By Chris Vogel
Journal Staff Writer
    Police have arrested Señor Pie himself.
    Earl Scott Robinson is behind bars for allegedly offering an employee a slice of his pie store's profits in return for killing a woman prosecuting him on suspicion of child molestation.
    Robinson, 69, owner of the Señor Pies pie store on Gibson SE, was arrested Wednesday and charged with criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder, Metropolitan Court records state. As of Thursday evening, he was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in lieu of a $1 million cash-only bond.
    An unnamed employee told police Robinson offered up 50 percent ownership, $525,000 a year, in his pie franchise "in return for taking out the DA," records state.
    "If I can get this problem taken care of, then we can move forward with this pie company," Robinson allegedly told the worker.
    The "DA" is Assistant District Attorney Rachel Berenson, who in 1999 began prosecuting Robinson on charges including criminal sexual contact of a minor, records state.
    In May 2002, a jury found Robinson not guilty of two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A mistrial was declared in the case when the jury could not agree on a verdict for three sexual contact charges, records state.
    Berenson said she expects to retry Robinson on the sexual contact counts once the state Supreme Court makes a ruling regarding Robinson's case. She said the court is expected to rule later this month on issues involving the use of a polygraph test.
    Berenson said she could not comment on the possible death threat.
    Robinson said he was bankrupt and looking for someone to "eliminate her," records said.
    "This (expletive) DA," Robinson told his employee, "she's been trying to prosecute me on this thing that I got accused of molesting a 10-year-old boy," records state.
    Robinson said he had spent $3 million because Berenson "won't let up," records said.
    Berenson is familiar with these types of threats.
    In July, authorities suspected that a gang member Berenson successfully prosecuted ordered a hit on her and a District Court judge. The gang member was convicted of raping two children.