A judge today ordered an accused child molester to be held without the possibility of bail despite the defendant’s objections that prosecutors were trying to “bury” him in “lies.”
Richard Steve Goldberg, a former Boeing engineer, was accused more than 20 years ago of molesting at least six girls ranging from 5 to 8 years old. Authorities said at the time that Goldberg used computer games, TV shows and pets like ducks and rabbits to create what appeared to be a safe enticing atmosphere for girls he was babysitting. Instead, he abused them at his Long Beach home, prosecutors allege.
Before Long Beach police could arrest him on the charges, Goldberg, left the country for Canada and soon rose to infamy as one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives.
After an episode of “America’s Most Wanted” featured him, someone recognized Goldberg, who was living under an assumed name, and turned him in.
For most of the last two decades, Goldberg has been serving time in federal prison for using his victims to create sexually explicit images, but “he was never brought to justice” for the original molestation charges local prosecutors filed in 2001, Deputy District Attorney Elyse Rendon said in court Tuesday.
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After Goldberg completed his federal prison sentence, “We have finally gotten him back in our jurisdiction,” Rendon said.
Rendon also alleged that while Goldberg was in Canada, he told a therapist that the charges against him were “trumped up.”
If he were released on bail, “I think there’s every reason to believe he would flee again,” she said.
Whispering loudly to his lawyer, Goldberg took issue with Rendon’s characterization of his time in Canada.
He denied he was fleeing from the charges when he left the country, and he insisted he was going to turn himself in, something his lawyer also said at the time of his arrest.
“I don’t like these things they’re saying about me,” Goldberg, who is now 78, told his public defender.
Deputy Public Defender Wayne Suzukawa asked Judge Daniel Lowenthal to set a dollar figure for bail, to allow Goldberg at least a chance at freedom before trial, but Lowenthal declined.
”I don’t think the gentleman is a candidate to return to court on his own volition should he bail out,” he said.
Goldberg is facing nine felony counts of lewd acts with a child and two misdemeanor counts of possessing sexual images of children. He’s pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, Rendon said in court, Goldberg could be sent to state prison for the rest of his life.