Jury finds millionaire innocent of lewdness

But Gregory Wilbanks still will go to prison to begin serving nearly 8 years for rape.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 23, 2000

LARGO -- This time, a jury believed the Oldsmar millionaire. But he's still headed to a state prison cell.

A jury deliberated for two hours Wednesday before finding financial consultant Gregory Wilbanks not guilty of a felony lewd and lascivious exhibition charge. Prosecutors accused him of sitting naked in a hot tub with two nude 14-year-old girls and exposing himself to them.

Wilbanks, who faced a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted, wiped tears from his eyes and mouthed the words "thank you" as the six jurors who acquitted him walked out of a Pinellas courtroom.

Afterward, juror Jerry Davis said, "We simply didn't think there was enough evidence to convict him." He declined to elaborate.

For Wilbanks, 45, and his attorneys, Gail Conolly and Denis de Vlaming, the victory is bittersweet.

Earlier this month, Circuit Judge Mark Shames sentenced Wilbanks to nearly eight years in prison after a different jury in September found him guilty of raping a Republic Bank employee who visited his Lakeshore Loop home.

The employee said Wilbanks had invited her to his $467,500 home in August 1999 on the pretense of bank business. But she said he attacked her, ignoring her screams to stop.

Another bank employee also told police that Wilbanks raped her, though Wilbanks has been charged only in the one case in which he was convicted.

The lewd and lascivious charge involved a 14-year-old girl with a history of running away and a friend of hers. Wilbanks picked up the first girl last year near downtown Clearwater.

The girl testified that Wilbanks invited her to his home. Later, she visited the home with a 14-year-old friend at Wilbanks' prompting. The girl said the pair sat naked in the hot tub with Wilbanks, who also wasn't wearing clothes.

The girl testified that Wilbanks persuaded them to take their bathing suits off by telling them chemicals in the suits would damage the tub's chemical balance.

The girl, who isn't identified because of the nature of the charges, said Wilbanks also hugged her tightly and talked about becoming her boyfriend.

Wilbanks testified on Wednesday that he regretted allowing the girls into his home. But he denied any lewd intentions.

Wilbanks said the girl had given him directions one day as he looked for an address in downtown Clearwater. The girl climbed into his vehicle to help him find the address, then insisted on visiting his house after seeing pictures of it in the vehicle, Wilbanks said.

He said he briefly showed her the home, which was a 20-minute drive away.

A week or so later, he said, the girl showed up at his house with a friend unexpectedly. He acknowledged letting them stay for several hours, saying he thought they only wanted to take pictures of his house to show to friends.

Wilbanks also acknowledged taking a photo of the two naked girls as they sat in his hot tub. The mother of one of the girls later discovered the pictures and called police.

But Wilbanks insisted he never entered the hot tub with the girls or took his clothes off. And he said the girls got into the hot tub on their own. He denied telling them to strip.

"They were so persistent," he said of the girls. "I thought: Let's nip this in the bud. I'll let them take their pictures. They'll be done and leave."

Regarding the mother who found the picture of her naked daughter, Wilbanks said, "I would be upset, too."

Conolly, Wilbanks' attorney, did not try to defend her client's decision to allow the girls into his home and then to use his hot tub.

"It's a stupid, stupid thing to do," she said during closing arguments. "But that is not a crime."

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