DOWN IN Bakersfield, they have a saying: "Come on vacation, leave on probation." The city, surrounded by swaying horsehead oil rigs and spinach fields, is a bit of Texas transplanted into Southern California. And Bakersfield is known for Texas justice.

In the mid-1980s, an ambitious DA named Ed Jagels made a name for himself by prosecuting what was called a "sex ring": a group of molesters who were passing children around among themselves. Read more