Charity Director in Half Moon Bay Charged with Soliciting Sex, by John Cote, San Francisco Chronicle, October 18, 2007

Charity Director in Half Moon Bay Charged with Soliciting Sex

By John Cote
San Francisco Chronicle
October 18, 2007

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The director of a Half Moon Bay charity has been charged with a misdemeanor count of soliciting prostitution for allegedly offering a woman $500 to have sex with him after she asked him for help finding a job, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Michael David Niece pleaded not guilty to the charge Tuesday in San Mateo County Superior Court through his attorney. Niece was not present in court, and an answering machine message at the Half Moon Bay home he shares with his wife indicated they were on a pilgrimage in Italy.

Niece, 65, co-founder and director of the Coastside Catholic Worker charity, is accused of offering to pay a 35-year-old woman for sex after she went to him in August for help finding a job, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Michael Niece, director of a Half Moon Bay charity that helps agricultural workers and their families, searches the banks of Pillarcitos Creek in Half Moon Bay during a count of the homeless on Jan. 25, 2005. Niece faces a prostitution solicitation charge for allegedly offering a job seeker $500 to have sex with him.
Photo by Carlos Avila Gonzalez

The woman refused, went to police and agreed to place a recorded call to Niece, during which he repeated the offer, Wagstaffe said.

Niece's attorney, William Johnston, did not return a call seeking comment. Niece faces up to six months in the county jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.

Niece founded Coastside Catholic Worker with his wife in 2000, according to the group's Web site. The charity, run out of the couple's home, focuses on helping agricultural workers and their families. It provides English-language instruction and housing assistance while distributing food, clothes, diapers, blankets and other items to the needy.

Two pacifists, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, founded the Catholic Worker Movement in the 1930s to help the poor. It is not directly affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

"We ground our work in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every person and we take seriously the gospel mandate in Christian scripture to practice the works of mercy," says a statement on Coastside Catholic Worker's Web site. "We are not a charity in the traditional sense, and the ministry is not just about giving handouts. It is about walking with our brothers and sisters in need, trying to live lives of 'active love' and taking personal responsibility in addressing struggles in life."

E-mail John Cote at jcote@sfchronicle.com.