EXCLUSIVE: The former LA Deputy City Attorney who prosecuted dozens of casting directors in a sweep of bogus actors’ workshops said tonight that industry professionals who violate an oft-ignored law to protect child actors from registered sex offenders could soon be the subjects of a similar undercover operation and prosecution.

The Child Performer Protection Act, which became law nearly six years ago, requires most professionals who work with child actors – including publicists, managers, and acting coaches – to obtain a permit, pass an FBI background check, and register with a California state database to screen out pedophiles.

A Deadline investigation in April, however, found that not a single Hollywood publicist who represents child actors had obtained a permit. Dozens of managers, acting coaches, and photographers who work with child stars had also failed to comply with the law, which is punishable by a year in county jail and a $10,000 fine. And yet, no one has ever been charged with breaking it.

Speaking tonight at a SAG-AFTRA panel discussion about the law, former Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Mark Lambert said that there will be undercover operations and prosecutions if the industry does not begin to more fully comply with the law.

“At some point,” he said, “there’s going to be an undercover operation. You could go to jail. You could be fined $10,000. You could spend a lot of money on lawyers. But you can avoid all that by getting a permit, because if not enough people follow the law, there will be undercover…there will be prosecutions.”

MORE: https://deadline.com/2018/11/sag-aftra-panel-child-performer-protenction-act-hollywood-predators-1202502439/