http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ho ... 585206.php
Police caught onto Kline after a Canadian computer whiz hacked into the judge's Irvine home computer and discovered sexually explicit images of young boys and a diary that revealed Kline's fantasies involving young boys. A subsequent search of his court computer revealed more images and more Web sites.
During the six years of court battles, Kline lost his job as a judge to a write-in candidate in 2002. He also lost his mobility for six years when he was ordered to wear a tracking anklet and placed on home confinement while his case was decided in court.
May 2000: A Canadian hacker downloads lurid diaries and pictures of nude boys from Kline's Irvine home computer and forwards them to a pedophile watchdog group.
November 2001: Kline is charged in federal court in Santa Ana with seven counts of possession of child pornography.
January 2002: The Orange County District Attorney's Office files five counts of child molestation against Kline after a man comes forward to say he was molested by Kline in 1979 when he was 14.
March-November 2002: Kline does not campaign for re-election and is replaced by write-in candidate John S. Adams.
June-October 2003: A federal judge rules that 1,500 photos of naked boys, diary entries and Web sites found on Kline's computers cannot be used in the federal child-pornography case, contending that the Canadian hacker was serving as an agent of authorities and therefore his "search" of Kline's computer was illegal.
July 2003: A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismisses all molestation charges against Kline because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling banning prosecution of old sex-abuse allegations.
October 2004: A federal appeals court reverses the pornography rulings, saying the Canadian hacker was acting on his own when he gained access to Kline's computer.
December 2005: Kline pleads guilty to four counts of possessing child pornography on his home computer.
Feb. 20, 2007: Kline is sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.