Man to Be Tried in Attacks on Pacoima Children
A parolee charged with raping children and teen-agers in Pacoima and Inglewood was ordered Monday to stand trial on 20 felony charges.
Concluding an often-delayed preliminary hearing that started Dec. 22, San Fernando Municipal Judge Roy M. Carstairs ruled that there is a “strong suspicion” that Robert Lee Donaldson terrorized children in a Pacoima neighborhood--the same area where he raped a boy in 1982.
Donaldson, 34, is charged with rape, sodomy and lewd acts. The Pacoima attacks on two girls occurred Sept. 21 and 22 on Van Nuys Boulevard near Borden Avenue. Two other girls were assaulted in separate incidents only three blocks apart Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 in Inglewood, where police said Donaldson was stalking another child when he was taken into custody.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Jacquelyn Lacey said Donaldson’s attacks had a striking similarity: The victims were from ages 9 to 16, and they were all walking alone to school.
“That’s not what you really call a fingerprint,” said defense attorney Bobby R. Black, who successfully argued that four counts related to one male victim be dismissed.
After his conviction for raping a 15-year-old boy in May, 1982, Donaldson served more than 10 years in prison. He was paroled one year ago.
Donaldson, who is being held in lieu of $2-million bail, is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on April 11.
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