Drawn-Out Child Molestation Case : Accused Educator’s Champions Stick by Him

The drawn-out child molestation case against the former operator of a private Northridge school, Campbell Hugh Greenup, has quieted support for the educator, but not eliminated it, parents of some of Greenup’s former students and his family said Tuesday.

“We don’t have a club. . . . We don’t rally at a party and put placards out for Hugh Greenup, but we love him, we pray for him, and we support him,” said Carol Brookins, whose daughter, now 14, was said to be a victim in the original police complaint. The girl denied the allegations and was dropped from the complaint before the preliminary hearing.

Greenup was arrested last April but is still awaiting trial on charges of molesting eight of his female students. The case has been slowed by a number of pretrial motions filed by his attorney, a public defender appointed after Greenup’s original attorney quit the case for health reasons, and the district attorney’s office. Greenup lost the latest battle Tuesday when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dion G. Morrow turned down the defendant’s request to dismiss the charges.

Left Destitute, Greenup Says

Greenup said in an interview that the cost of his defense has forced him to sell off all his assets and has left him destitute. The private elementary school he operated out of his Northridge home, his major source of income before his arrest, shut down months ago.

To defray defense costs, the land under the school was sold. Bulldozers have cleared the area to build a parking lot for an adjacent California State University, Northridge, dormitory. The house itself was sold to another buyer, who had it removed from its foundations and relocated onto another lot in the foothills above Granada Hills.

Greenup, free on bail since June, has moved in with his mother in Granada Hills and does odd jobs for friends to make ends meet. He is now helping one of his sons-in-law computerize a business payroll, he said, adding that he has been trying not to apply for welfare, “but I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.”

The parents who tried to keep Greenup’s school open during the months after his arrest still write and stop by occasionally, he said, but most of the support he hears lately comes from people he meets in public.

“I have been recognized from all the news coverage that has been given to this case, but I have yet to experience any negative reaction from anyone,” Greenup said. “I live my standard life as best I can and I’m out amongst the public several times every day and I have not encountered to this point anything but absolute support.”

Delays Blamed for Less Contact

Parents who have attested to Greenup’s innocence say delays in the case have made it difficult to keep track of what is happening from week to week and to provide the kind of constant, vocal support he received early on.

“What has been ongoing is that Dr. Greenup finally is having his day in court, and he is in a position to speak for himself,” said Richard Dourian, an Encino dentist whose daughter denied allegations by other children that she was molested by Greenup. “At the time, he was not allowed to do so and the initial thrust of the parents was to portray support and to say, ‘Hey, this is out of bounds and this is not so. This is an innocent man.’ ”

Dourian said providing that support has been a risk, but that he is glad he took it.

“Here is a heinous crime, child molestation, and you couldn’t find a person who walks this earth who would like any part of that,” Dourian said. “When I decide to stand up and be counted in support of a man accused of that crime, does that mean all of a sudden that I am, by association, a child molester if the courts do not find him innocent? . . . So far I have had no negative reaction that I am aware of, but it is a difficult position to be in.”

Many of the children named in the original complaint against Greenup still ask when they can see him again, their parents say.

“All three of my kids have asked when they can see Dr. Greenup. They miss their teacher,” said the mother of three former Greenup schoolchildren, who spoke on the condition that her identity not be revealed.

Detectives said one of the mother’s daughters told them Greenup had molested her on several occasions. But, according to her parents, the girl later told them that the police report was untrue. Charges against Greenup involving the girl were dropped during the preliminary hearing.

“Sometimes it gets very difficult to explain to them why they can’t see him when they miss him so much,” the mother said. “They’re in public school now and it’s so frustrating . . . because they were doing advanced work at Dr. Greenup’s school and now they’re just repeating what they’ve already done with him.”

Conditions set on Greenup’s bail stipulate that he may not have any contact with children.

Stephanie Mason, Greenup’s daughter, says one exception to that condition of bail is her 4-year-old son, Michael. Mason has moved in with Greenup and her grandmother until the child molestation case is resolved “because it’s been really killing him not having any kids around. . . . We moved in so he could at least have Michael around.”

Mason said Greenup received “at least 15” Christmas cards from families whose children originally were alleged to have been molested by the educator. She said he still receives supportive calls from former students who hear about the case.

But the intensity of support has subsided since the school was closed and the children were dispersed to classrooms in different parts of the Valley.

“There was a little group that tried to keep things together in the beginning,” said Cindy Beebe, mother of a former Greenup school student. “There hasn’t been any group that’s stayed together because nothing’s been happening for so long . . . but I certainly don’t think anyone has changed their minds. We know the man is innocent.”