A man accused of taking a minor across state lines for sex is facing up to 10 years in prison now that he’s behind bars, federal authorities said this week.
Investigators arrested Andrew Goodman after a his 15-year-old male victim claimed that Goodman had taken him to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he sexually abused the teen in a hotel room.
His arrest by federal authorities comes just two weeks after a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge sentenced Goodman to two years in prison for abusing his male victim, as well as the victim’s brother, back in 2010. Yet, after time served, Goodman would have been back out on the street — a move that terrified the victim at the sentencing.
“Letting this man go is a very grave mistake,” the victim, now 17, told the judge at the July 12 sentencing, when he begged the court not go easy on his attacker. “I have no doubt he’ll try to do the same thing to other children once he gets out.”
The victim told the court how Goodman, his neighbor, earned his trust by buying him gifts, taking him to restaurants, and alienating him from his parents before pressuring him into having sex.
“You are the worst thing that ever happened to me,” he told Goodman at the sentencing. “You are the devil disguised as a human.”
That’s when federal authorities stepped in. Since Goodman took his victim to another state, the FBI could intercede and arrest him on new charges.
Goodman pleaded not guilty and was returned to custody until his federal case is heard again — indefinitely delaying his release from prison.
“The prevention of sexual exploitation of children is a priority of this office,” stated United States Attorney Loretta Lynch in a statement. “Those who would take advantage of children are on notice that they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Self-defense killed the cat?
A lawyer defending the father-and-son team that police say beat a cat to death with a stick told this paper that the animal was not theirs — opening the door to a possible defense that the duo had the right to kill an animal that had wandered into their home.
Jean Rog Murat, 60, and his son Robenson Murat were both arrested after a neighbor said he saw them thrashing the animal with a stick from his window.
Police claim that one of the two suspects placed the murdered feline inside a plastic bag, dumping the carcass on a nearby street corner.
The witness called police, who notified the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Members from the group’s Humane Law Enforcement department received a warrant to search the apartment, where they found cat fibers, blood, and a broken stick, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.
Hynes was quick to slap charges on the alleged familial feline killers, saying cruelty to animals is often a prelude to violence against humans.
“It is often a pre-cursor to domestic violence and is known to be early evidence of potential serial killing,” Hynes said.
But defense attorney Frederick Schurr says the charges filed against them are unfounded.
“They will be proven innocent by the end of the case,” Schurr said, adding that the neither defendant laid claim to the animal.
Schurr has not made the cat’s owner-free status part of his defense, but legal insiders said that the Murats would only be allowed to kill the animal if they were acting in self-defense.
Reach Deputy Editor Thomas Tracy at ttracy@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2525.
