Prosecutor Tells of ‘Kitty-Cat Ruse’ Used by Alleged Child Molester : Courts: A San Juan Capistrano man is accused of molesting an 8-year-old and trying to lure other children. His lawyer says it’s mistaken identity.

A San Juan Capistrano man, facing charges of molesting an 8-year-old girl and exposing himself to another child, tried to lure more than a dozen children into vulnerability by asking for help finding his lost cat, prosecutors said at the opening of his trial on Monday.

Thomas Michael Cimino, 31, is charged with single counts of molestation and indecent exposure, and 10 counts of child annoyance stemming from a wave of stalking incidents that caused terror among parents in a Dana Point neighborhood over four months last year.

Cimino, who was identified by many of the children and some adult witnesses, also has been charged with indecent exposure in Los Angeles County in connection with a series of incidents involving a similar “kitty-cat ruse” near where he lived the year before, Deputy Dist. Atty. Claudia Silbar said during opening statements to the jury.

But Cimino’s defense lawyer said his client is no child molester, and was the victim of a “tragic mistake of identity,” because he looks like the suspect.

Deputy Public Defender Nicholas S. Thompson told jurors that authorities, under pressure to make an arrest, rushed to prosecute Cimino even though callers offered the names of 42 other possible suspects.

He said Cimino bore an uncanny resemblance to a composite drawing of the suspect, but was innocent.

“There still is a predator out there,” Thompson said.

The Orange County incidents began in March of last year and ended in June, when Cimino was arrested, Silbar said.

She said Cimino, dressed in a jogging outfit, would approach girls ages 6 to 10 and ask for help finding his cat.

He would lead them to nearby sheltered locations where they could be hidden from view, and ask them to watch out for passersby so he could change clothes.

In one instance, Silbar said, Cimino allegedly grabbed the girl’s hand and thrust it down his pants before she managed to flee.

In another, he exposed himself to a girl near a basketball court. On other occasions, the children ran away when approached, Silbar said.

But the accused man’s attorney said a search of the home Cimino shares with his wife turned up none of the kinds of material that might be found in the hands of a pedophile.

He said his client had a normal upbringing in Rhode Island and bore no traits of a sexual deviate.

“Mr. Cimino isn’t that kind of person,” he said. Thompson said it was a coincidence that similar incidents were reported in the Culver City area at the time Cimino lived nearby.

Cimino faces three counts of exposure stemming from those incidents, Silbar said.