Man Ordered to Stand Trial on Charge of Assault

City employee Mario Riley testified Tuesday that he still anguishes over the September day when a 65-year-old mobile home owner twice attempted to run him down with a truck as he and two Ventura County sheriff’s deputies attempted to remove piles of trash from the property.

Using a marking pen to sketch the truck’s path, the code enforcement officer said that resident Gerald Goldstein, a frequent critic and humorist at Moorpark City Council meetings, twice sped his pickup at him, narrowly missing him as he dove out of the way.

After Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, Municipal Judge Thomas J. Hutchins ordered that Goldstein be held over for a Dec. 12 trial on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. In custody since the Sept. 16 incident, Goldstein’s bail remains at $25,000. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison.

Riley said he and two sheriff’s deputies were on Goldstein’s property in the early morning hours of Sept. 16 to oversee the court-ordered cleanup of the residence. They were joined by two workers and psychologist Pearl Buckland, who is in charge of a trust fund set up more than a decade ago by Goldstein’s mother to provide for his care.

Goldstein had stuffed the mobile home so full of discarded papers, magazines, rotten food and clutter that Riley said the man was forced to live out of his truck.

When the group arrived, Riley said they rousted Goldstein, who was sleeping in his Ford pickup. Goldstein appeared angry when he got out of his vehicle and tried to stop the two workers from entering his mobile home, Riley said, adding that the deputies ordered Goldstein off the property by showing him a court order that permitted the cleanup.

Riley said he was talking with one of the deputies when he heard Goldstein start the truck. “He was revving the truck engine at a high rate,” Riley told the court. “Then he just put it in gear.”

With screeching tires, Riley said the pickup bolted forward and he had to jump out of the way. Riley said that Goldstein spun the truck around and headed back at the code enforcement officer a second time, requiring the two deputies to draw their weapons to force Goldstein to bring the truck to a stop.

Although Riley was not injured in the incident, he said he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome because of the experience and is seeing a therapist.

After the hearing, Riley said he is haunted by what could have happened if the deputies had not been at the scene to stop Goldstein. And worse, he said, is the thought that the deputies may have had to shoot the senior citizen, who is known as a humorous and mild-mannered critic of city government.

“That’s one thing I don’t know that I could live with,” Riley said. “That really bothers me--all that over a bunch of trash.”

Goldstein’s lawyer, Louis Samonsky, said at his client’s arraignment two weeks ago that he wanted to have Goldstein’s mental health evaluated. However, Tuesday, Samonsky said Goldstein’s mental health will not be a factor in his defense.

“It’s obvious that Mr. Goldstein is very lucid and thoughtful, and he has no history of violence,” he said.

In his cross-examination of Riley, Samonsky asked only a handful of questions that focused on how rapidly the truck was traveling and how close it actually came to hitting Riley. Samonsky said after the hearing that he intends to have Goldstein’s truck inspected to see if it has any mechanical problems that could have caused the engine to rev.

Glenn Buchanan, a longtime friend of Goldstein who works as a mediator for the Los Angeles Superior Court, attended the hearing to support his friend. Buchanan said he felt the city and Buckland could have taken other actions to avoid the confrontation.

One suggestion was that Goldstein could have been urged to contact the Clutterers Anonymous support group.

Buchanan said after the hearing that while he does not agree with his friend’s actions, he understands that Goldstein felt the city was violating his rights by sending code enforcement officers and deputies onto his property and ordering cleanups. Just three years ago, Buchanan said, the city ordered the demolition of Goldstein’s previous residence on the site after the property was ruled uninhabitable.

Prosecutor Donna Thonis said after the hearing that Goldstein is not simply a collector of things. As proof, she displayed photographs of rooms in Goldstein’s mobile home stuffed with trash.