Interior Secretary’s Son Denied Bail in Rape Case

The son of Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. was ordered held without bail today on a charge of raping a woman whose apartment he was accused of entering while armed with a shotgun.

Prosecutor Randy Sengel argued during a brief court hearing that Robert Jeffrey Lujan, 28, posed a danger to society and should not be allowed to remain free on bond. Sengel also told the judge that the younger Lujan had a prior criminal record--a 1983 federal conviction for cocaine possession.

Judge Daniel O’Flaherty revoked the $2,000 bond on which Lujan was released several hours after his arrest Wednesday night.

The judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Friday.

Lujan, who did not enter a plea, is charged with raping a 48-year-old woman who lives in the same high-rise apartment building where he resides with his parents, police said.

The woman reported to police that she was awakened about 4:30 a.m. Sunday by a man carrying a shotgun, authorities said.

There was no sign of forced entry into the woman’s apartment, according to the police report of the incident.

“Jeff Lujan indicated to his parents that whatever activities did occur were consensual,” said Interior Department spokesman Steve Goldstein.

“Clearly, Secretary and Mrs. Lujan feel the anguish that any parents would feel under a similar situation.”

Goldstein said Jeff Lujan was with his parents at their apartment when he was arrested at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The younger Lujan, a house painter, had recently moved back into his parents’ apartment in Alexandria, the spokesman said.

Goldstein said the secretary kept to his normal schedule today despite his son’s arrest. The spokesman stressed that the elder Lujan did not go to the Alexandria City Jail on Wednesday night or to the court hearing today because he did not want to be seen as trying to influence the outcome of the case.

“It is difficult for the Lujans,” he said. “Any other parents would have the opportunity to plead for their child. The secretary recognizes that he is not any other parent.”

But the Lujans “love their son and they are going to stand by him,” Goldstein said.

Jeff Lujan, one of the secretary’s four children, was sentenced in 1983 to an unspecified term as a youthful offender for possession of cocaine and use of a telephone in a drug transaction in New Mexico. At the time, his father was a Republican congressman from the state.

He served several months at a federal facility in Englewood, Colo., Goldstein said.