The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is defending a convicted child molester whom it invited to participate in a charity poker tournament.

Professional poker player Shahram “Shawn” Sheikhan, who served nine months in prison in 1995 for convictions of sexual battery on a child and other charges, was invited by the L.A. Sheriff’s Department to participate in its February 24 Memorial Poker Classic, which raises monies for the families of police officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty.

Upon learning about the invitation, the operator of Perverted Primates (www.pervertedprimates.com), a website that tracks sex crimes and assists law enforcement, notified the Sheriff’s Department by e-mail about Sheikhan’s criminal record.

Within hours, the e-mail was answered by Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff Scott M. Diamond, one of the organizers of the charity poker event.

A copy of Diamond’s e-mail to Perverted Primates was obtained by PokerHelper.com. It reads: “Thank-you for responding. Regarding Shawn: I am well aware Shawn was convicted of a crime in 1995. I have seen the transcripts of the court proceeding and Shawn was done an unjustice. He did not ‘molest’ a child. There was no sexual intercourse or touching of private parts other than a pat on the posterior of a girl who lied to him about her age and was employed by him. In 13 years, Shawn has not had trouble with the law . Thank-you for your concerns.”

The shockingly cavalier attitude by Diamond can perhaps be explained by the fact that the longtime Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy is a wannabe poker pro, who plays in low-level tournaments and pals around with established professional poker players.

According to records available at Poker Pages (www.pokerpages.com), Diamond has finished in the money in four small poker tourneys, earning a total of=A0 $4,860 in his career.

And on a post on a MySpace.com blog (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=3Dblog.ListAll&friendID=3D15= 8689525), dated December 22, 2007, Diamond refers to Sheikhan and other poker pros as his “friends.”

The 51-year-old poker-playing deputy, a native New Yorker who has seven children, apparently must think crime is under control in Los Angeles County. According to poker articles he has written for various websites, he has plenty of time to play poker at various Southern California cardrooms, as well as Las Vegas casinos.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.) =A0