Buckey Tells of Love Affair : McMartin Figure Describes Encounters, Denies Pedophilia

Raymond Buckey, on trial for allegedly molesting children at the McMartin Pre-School, testified Thursday that his only sexual relationship was with a woman he loved, and he denied having sexual desire for children.

“In my own mind, I can’t imagine someone with a perversion for children having desire for a woman,” Buckey, 31, testified under cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin. “It’s like mixing apples and oranges.”

Rubin was quick to point out to reporters, however, that medical literature maintains that adults who have sex with other adults can still be child molesters.

Woman Denied Account

The prosecutor also pointed out that the woman in question told investigators that she and Buckey had never had sex.

Buckey denied that he concocted his testimony about having sex with the woman as a possible defense to the molestation charges.

“I didn’t fabricate the incident,” he said. “I don’t have sexual desire for children. I never have and I never will.

“We had a sexual relationship,” he said. “We had sexual intercourse. She was the first female I ever made love to,” adding later that she was also the only one. “I was very much in love with (her) at the time.”

Buckey, who has been on trial for more than two years and testifying since July 25, said he met the woman in 1982 at a convention on nutrition and unidentified flying objects in Reno, Nev.

During the convention, Buckey said, he and the woman drove to Lake Tahoe and stayed at a motel called the Fantasy Inn, where they had sexual intercourse. Buckey said he also had sex with the woman on several other occasions in California.

“Are you aware that (the woman) told investigators that she certainly tried to seduce you, but you wouldn’t be seduced?,” Rubin asked Buckey.

“We had sexual intercourse,” Buckey maintained. “I’m sure she has her reasons (for denying the sexual relationship). I’d like to hear them.”

Pressed for Details

Rubin then pressed Buckey for details about his sexual relations with the woman, asking him how long their love-making took.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t really timing it,” Buckey shot back, sarcastically.

Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 63, are on trial on charges they molested 11 of their pupils at the now-closed preschool in Manhattan Beach from 1978 to 1983.

The trial, now in its 27th month, is the longest and costliest criminal trial in history.

When filed in 1984, the case was the largest molestation case in U.S. history. Since then, however, scores of charges and five co-defendants have been dismissed because of insufficient evidence.