NEWPORT BEACH : Bail Doubled for Suspect in Rape
A former Beverly Hills police officer who is accused of raping an 11-year-old Irvine girl planned to flee the area and change his identity, the prosecutor testified Friday.
Judge Christopher W. Strople doubled bail to $500,000 in Municipal Court. The judge also continued the defendant’s arraignment to April 20.
Steven Rush McCoy, 36, of Irvine was arrested March 26. On that day, a man masqueraded as a deliveryman with a box, persuading the victim to open the door in an apartment near UC Irvine and then raping her at knifepoint, police said.
After the assault, “He told the child if she called the police he would come back and kill her,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ariadne Symons said.
McCoy proclaimed his innocence in a jailhouse interview.
But police, serving a search warrant at McCoy’s apartment on the day of the arrest, found notes in the defendant’s handwriting which indicated he intended to disappear and fake a new identity elsewhere.
“We found notes that said things like: ‘Move to Las Vegas. Get a new birth certificate. Get a Ph.D.,’ ” Symons said. “If he is able to post bail, there is a likelihood that he will flee.”
But defense attorney Jan Heger said the notes may have belonged to someone else. Heger argued Friday that bail was already high enough.
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