Artist’s Cartoons Depicted His Molestations of Teen-Ager, Court Papers Allege

A Simi Valley cartoonist who created Hustler magazine’s “Chester the Molester” cartoon and is charged with child molesting often said, “You can’t write this stuff all the time if you don’t experience it,” according to court documents.

The cartoonist, Dwaine Tinsley, 43, was arrested last month after an 18-year-old told police he had molested her for five years.

Police searched Tinsley’s home on May 18. The search warrant, which was filed Thursday in Ventura Municipal Court, included an affidavit by Simi Valley Detective Gary Gilloway outlining the statements of the young woman, who lives in Chatsworth.

“She stated that she saw numerous cartoons that (Tinsley) had done which depicted sexual encounters that she had with (him),” the search warrant states.

She said the molestations began when she was 13 and continued for five years. Tinsley had sex with her about three times a week, showed her pornography and put her on birth control pills, the documents say.

He was forceful, and when she resisted him he became angry and frightened her, she told police.

Tinsley is free on $50,000 bail. His attorney, Alan H. Yahr, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

The woman said she often heard Tinsley tell co-workers at the sexually explicit magazine about the “Chester” cartoon: “You can’t write this stuff all the time if you don’t experience it.”

Tinsley told the teen-ager that the sex was “their little secret,” the warrant states.

The “Chester the Molester” cartoon, featuring a lewd older man who is sexually attracted to children, is a fixture in Hustler magazine.

Tinsley was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Monday, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Hardy said it will be postponed. Prosecutors instead will submit an amended complaint against Tinsley, increasing the number of felony sex charges against him from nine to 16. Tinsley could be sentenced to a maximum 16 years in jail if convicted on all charges.