Crisis-Center Volunteer Accused of Molestation

Avolunteer counselor for a Ventura County crisis-intervention organization will face a preliminary hearing April 27 on charges that he sexually molested a 16-year-old boy who sought help through the organization, authorities said Friday.

Gene Randall, 56, of Camarillo, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday in Ventura County Municipal Court to 27 counts of oral copulation, sodomy and sexual molestation of a minor, said Chuck Campbell, Ventura County deputy district attorney.

Randall, a self-employed mortgage broker who had been a volunteer for two years, met the teen-ager last year through a program sponsored by Interface Children and Family Services of Ventura County, an organization that provides outreach counseling and temporary shelter to runaways and homeless children, said Detective Jean Edwards of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

In late January, a family member of the victim phoned Kate McLean, executive director of the crisis-intervention organization, to report the alleged sexual abuse. McLean said she urged the caller to contact the sheriff’s office.

McLean said the suspect was one of 2,050 volunteers screened and trained by the organization since its inception in 1973. “This is the first incident of its kind ever reported during the organization’s history,” McLean said.

Most of the sex acts are alleged to have taken place in Randall’s Oxnard office or in his car from October, 1985, to December, 1986, Campbell said. Randall was arrested March 12 at his business and is free on $20,000 bail.