Defendant Reacts in Disbelief : Disabled Man Convicted of Molesting Northridge Girl, 3

A Granada Hills man was convicted Monday of child molestation and attempted kidnaping.

Edwin A. Greenup, 29, struck the table and shook his head in a gesture of disbelief when San Fernando Superior Court Judge David Perez pronounced him guilty at the end of a non-jury trial. He faces up to 11 years in prison.

Greenup was charged in August after witnesses told police Greenup had taken a 3-year-old girl by the hand and led her to a laundry room to the rear of a Northridge apartment project, where he dropped his shorts.

Greenup testified in his own behalf. During cross-examination he said that, on the afternoon of Aug. 15, he saw a group of children playing in front of an apartment project as he drove with his grandmother down Roscoe Boulevard. Greenup asked his grandmother to drop him off and circle the block, he testified, because he “thought it would be a place to get my thrills.”

Greenup admitted exposing himself to the 3-year-old and an 8-year-old girl but denied touching either.

Three witnesses testified, however, that they saw Greenup take the 3-year-old by the hand to the rear of the apartments. An 8-year-old witness, demonstrating with a doll, testified that Greenup picked up the child by placing a hand under her crotch.

Throughout the trial, Greenup wore a neck-high upper-body brace because of having broken his neck three times before the incident. He testified that he is partly paralyzed on his right side and can’t lift more than 10 pounds with his right hand. The little girl weighed about 30 pounds.

Becoming upset under cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. Sue Rosenfeld, Greenup shouted, “I didn’t touch anyone’s hand, clothing, body, anything.”

Greenup’s attorney, Edward L. Masry, introduced testimony by one of Greenup’s doctors who said it was “most probably impossible” for Greenup to have lifted the victim.

Masry said the child witnesses contradicted themselves and repeated hearsay, but Perez, in finding Greenup guilty, said the children’s testimony was corroborated by that of the adults.

Perez ordered Greenup held without bail until sentencing, which is set for Dec. 23. Greenup has been in custody at County Jail.

Edwin Greenup’s father, Campbell Hugh Greenup, 58, is awaiting trial on 21 counts of child molestation in an unrelated case. The elder Greenup, former operator of a private elementary school in Northridge, was arrested in April, 1984, and accused of molesting eight girl students.