[RP TownTalk] FYI: Town Dismisses Official Charged With Sex Abuse

[Lisa Grob]

I can see why the mayor was cryptic about the reason for Goff's removal.
This is very disturbing. 

(I didn't see that anyone posted this to the list from Tuesday).

-Lisa

Town Dismisses Official Charged With Sex Abuse

By Virgil Dickson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 17, 2007; B05

The Prince
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Prince+George's+County?tid=
informline>  George's County town of Riverdale Park has fired its public
works director, a 49-year-old man who was arrested early this month on
charges of sexually abusing a 16-year-old female friend of his daughter's.

The Town Council voted last week to remove Larry R. Goff Sr. immediately.
"Based on the charges, the legal proceedings and the discussion with him, a
decision was reached that he would not be able to return to his duties for a
substantial amount of time, and we voted to terminate," Mayor Vernon Archer
said.

Goff, who was released on $95,000 bond, could not be reached for comment.
The phone at his home in Edgewater, in Anne
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Anne+Arundel+County?tid=inf
ormline>  Arundel County, was not answered in recent days, and court records
do not indicate that he has hired an attorney.

Goff had held the job in Riverdale Park, a town of about 7,000 near
Hyattsville
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Hyattsville?tid=informline>
, since January. Before that, he was the public works director in
Bladensburg
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Bladensburg?tid=informline>
, officials there said.

According to a charging document filed in court, Goff assaulted the girl
while she visited his daughter on four occasions late last year. He is
accused of showing her computer images of himself naked as well as videos of
him having sex with young girls, the document says.

Other times, it alleges, Goff sent the girl instant messages telling her he
"missed her" and "loved her" and asking her to send him naked pictures of
herself.

During one of the visits, it says, he provided her with alcohol and then
pulled down her shirt and bra and photographed her with his cellphone
camera. During another, he exposed himself to her, the document says. He
also once offered to help her get a tattoo or a tongue piercing in exchange
for sexual favors, it says.

In February, the girl and her mother reported the alleged contacts to social
service workers. Investigators searched Goff's home the next month,
confiscating computers and cellphones. According to court records, they
found digital images of child pornography and graphic sex acts, some of
which the girl recognized.

Goff is charged with more than a dozen offenses, including sexually abusing
a minor and possessing child pornography. The case is scheduled for trial
July 31 in Anne Arundel County District Court.

            

 

 

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