Bail Set at $2-Million in Rape Case : Courts: Paroled sex offender pleads not guilty to attacks on three youths in Pacoima and two others in Inglewood.

Bail was set Monday at $2 million for Robert Lee Donaldson, a paroled sex offender charged with the rapes of four youths in Pacoima and Inglewood.

After an unsuccessful attempt to bar cameras from the courtroom, Deputy Public Defender John Ponist entered a not-guilty plea for Donaldson, who hid behind him during the five-minute proceeding in San Fernando Municipal Court.

Court Commissioner Gerald T. Richardson overruled Ponist’s objection that publicity would influence the victims’ ability to identify his client in connection with the attacks.

“I can’t pretend to tell you that I haven’t seen it already on every network,” Richardson responded.

Saying Donaldson was both a menace to society and a high risk to flee, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jacquelyn Lacey asked that no bail be set. Richardson denied the motion.

“I would have preferred no bail, but $2 million is fine,” Lacey said afterward.

Donaldson is charged with 24 felony accounts stemming from the Aug. 30, Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 rapes of three youths on Van Nuys Boulevard near Borden Avenue, and the rape and attempted kidnaping of two others Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 in Inglewood. All of the attacks occurred while the victims were on their way to school.

Inglewood detectives arrested Donaldson last week after spotting him in the neighborhood where the October attacks took place, near a campus that includes an elementary, middle and high school. Authorities say he was following a young girl at the time of his arrest. When detectives approached him, he tried to flee, police said.

Previous attempts to flee, a history of parole violations, and prior sex-assault convictions were reason enough to hold Donaldson without bail, Lacey argued.

Donaldson has violated parole four times, according to court records. Most recently, he disappeared in March from a downtown men’s shelter and failed to re-register as required under the state’s sex-offender laws, according to parole officials.

Donaldson was arrested in 1982 and charged with raping three boys and attempting to rape a fourth in the same neighborhood where the recent Pacoima attacks occurred. He pleaded guilty to the rape and kidnaping of one victim and was sentenced to 16 years. He was set free in 1991 after earning time off for good behavior, a release that a parole supervisor said was caused by a flaw in the system.

Three neighborhood acquaintances of Donaldson showed up at Monday’s arraignment to lend support but had little comment.

“I didn’t see any signs that he would be a rapist,” said Mary Baker, 17, who said she knew Donaldson for about three months. She said she was unaware of his previous conviction. “I’d like to see what kind of evidence they have against him,” she said.

Prosecutors will file motions this week to have blood and saliva samples drawn as evidence, and will request that Donaldson be tested for HIV.

A preliminary hearing was set for Nov. 3 at 8:30 a.m. in San Fernando Municipal Court.