Pubdate: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: John Woolfolk, Mercury News Staff Writer ASSAULT, POT FARM SUSPECT IN COURT A Santa Cruz man facing federal marijuana growing charges and sexual assault charges, who is also under suspicion in other sexual assault cases, was ordered to appear in U.S. District Court next week for a bail hearing. William Wilson, 37, has not been able to make the $1.25 million bail set on a Santa Cruz County warrant charging him with a sexual assault and burglary on Feb. 2. He has been in custody since April 17. Wilson appeared before Judge Patricia V. Trumbull in federal court Thursday for arraignment on charges of running a marijuana-growing operation. No plea was entered, and he was ordered to return in a week for a hearing to determine bail. Wilson has hired one of Santa Cruz's top defense lawyers, Paul Meltzer, to represent him in the federal case. Meltzer said he could not comment on the charges because he has not reviewed all the evidence. But he said the charges, which carry a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, seem out of proportion to the alleged offense. "He's accused of putting the wrong seeds in the ground," Meltzer said. Santa Cruz police say the Feb. 2 sexual assault is among a rash of similar incidents in the city's Seabright neighborhood. They believe Wilson is responsible for many of them. Police said they have since linked Wilson to a March 15 peeping incident, and tentatively identified him in two other sexual assaults and another prowling case. No additional charges have been filed, however. Santa Cruz County prosecutors said they are awaiting results of fingerprint and genetic analysis. Meltzer said that because of the sex case, prosecutors are levying unduly stiff drug charges against his client. "This is really not about him growing marijuana," Meltzer said. "I'd like to see the marijuana case tried on its own merit, or lack of merit." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea