Known Pedophile’s Bail Raised : Suspect Had History of Operating Arcades

An Ocean Beach video arcade owner arrested on suspicion of child molestation has repeatedly come to the attention of Los Angeles area police for operating video arcades and holding Bible classes for young boys despite his background as a known pedophile.

Ron J. Steckbauer, 34, was first arrested in 1976 on child molestation charges in Santa Monica and eventually pleaded guilty to a single count. Despite probation and a court warning that he stay away from young boys, police said, he ran video arcades and religious classes for boys in several locations.

Since Steckbauer’s arrest Wednesday morning at his apartment, a block from his Hyperspace Arcade on Newport Avenue, San Diego police have received numerous inquiries from concerned parents, frantic that their sons may have been targets of sexual abuse, police said.

After interviews over the last two days with at least six sets of parents and their children, police now say they believe Steckbauer is responsible for more than 100 separate sexual offenses in the Ocean Beach area alone.

Authorities also say Steckbauer was associated with an arcade in North San Diego County, but they have declined to say where.

Bail Raised

Steckbauer’s bail was raised Thursday from $200,000 to half a million dollars. He has been booked on suspicion of 23 counts of sexually molesting two boys under 14 years old and of failure to register as a known pedophile. His arraignment is scheduled for today.

Rick Clabby, an assistant San Diego County district attorney assigned to the child abuse unit, sought the bail increase because he believes there is a good possibility that more than 100 incidents of sexual abuse took place.

“We suspect there are other victims and we are still investigating,” Clabby said.

According to interviews with Southern California law enforcement officers, Steckbauer was originally charged in 1976 with molesting three boys. The boys, ages 8 to 12 years old, had been picked up at an arcade he operated on the Santa Monica pier.

Police said Steckbauer introduced himself to the boys at the arcade and then asked them to help move some materials inside his van parked nearby. When the boys entered the van, they were sexually molested and threatened with harm if they failed to cooperate, police said.

Steckbauer later pleaded guilty to one felony count of child molestation, was sentenced to the 90 days he had already served in jail and was released on probation. The other two charges were dropped in return for Steckbauer agreeing to undergo psychiatric treatment.

Parole Violation

In 1978, he was cited for a parole violation when he was spotted by police talking to two boys on the pier and inviting them to his van. He was arrested by police, who said they also learned Steckbauer had stopped seeking psychiatric counseling.

He was ordered to serve 180 days on the parole violation, after a court psychiatrist testified that Steckbauer had improved but “continued to have a predisposition to associate with young boys.”

His probation ended in December, 1980. But he was warned by the court never to associate again with any child under 14 without a responsible adult present.

Before long Steckbauer was operating arcades in Pasadena and La Crescenta, police said. Authorities said he also founded in 1981 a Christian youth club for children under 15. The club was operated under the auspices of the arcades, police said, where youths would pay a $2 membership fee, plus a $1 monthly charge.

In return, the youths would receive two free tokens each day. They would also attend Saturday morning Bible programs at the arcades and be taken on day trips to the beach and other locations.

San Diego Runaways

In 1982, Burbank police said, Steckbauer was operating video game arcades there and in neighboring Glendale. He came to the attention of police when it was learned that several runaway boys from San Diego were spotted at his Burbank home and participating in his Bible study program.

“We looked at him real hard,” said Burbank Detective Mike Gouge. “The cases we had originated in San Diego, in that the kids had come from there.”

But he said that by the time police were ready to make an arrest, the runaways were gone. Authorities then filed a charge against Steckbauer for failure to register in Burbank as a convicted child molester.

That charge didn’t hold up, police said. Court testimony showed that while Steckbauer had not registered as a sex offender in Burbank, he had registered from his second home at Marina del Rey, Gouge said.

The charge was dropped and Gouge said police began open surveillance of Steckbauer. “He was too hot here,” Gouge said. “We were watching him all the time. That’s when he split.” Exactly when he arrived in San Diego County is unclear.

San Diego police were told by anonymous tipsters two years ago that a child molester was abusing boys in the Ocean Beach area. But police were unable to identify a suspect.

Two months ago, San Diego police were told by Santa Monica authorities that Steckbauer was running an arcade in Ocean Beach, and that he had not registered as a known child molester. When he was arrested Wednesday morning, police searched his blue van parked outside his apartment and found a camera, Bibles and boys’ underwear.