| For Immediate Release Case # 11HF1297 October 3, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
|
REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER FACES TRIAL FOR MASTURBATING IN FRONT OF TWO TEENAGE GIRLS IN A PUBLIC LIBRARY
FULLERTON – A registered sex offender faces trial today for masturbating in front of two teenage girls in a public library. Robert Bruce Engel, 68, Mission Viejo, is charged with one felony count of indecent exposure with prior convictions for indecent exposure in 1999 and 2002. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. The court trial is expected to begin today, Oct. 3, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. in Department N-17, North Justice Center, Fullerton.
At approximately 7:00 p.m. on May 9, 2011, Engel is accused of going to the Rancho Santa Margarita Public Library and sitting at a table inside across from two teenage girls. He is accused of putting a newspaper across his lap, unzipping his pants, placing his hand under the newspaper, and masturbating.
The victims reported Engel to the librarian, but the defendant is accused of leaving the library before police arrived.
On the evening of May 16, 2011, Engel is accused of returning to the same library. The librarian recognized him and contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated this case. Engel was arrested at the library.
Engel’s lifetime sex offender registration bars him from entering County recreational areas and City parks which have passed the Sex Offender Ordinance. Visit www.orangecountyda.com to read the prior press releases on the County’s Sex Offender Ordinance as well as the 14 other cities that have enacted the Child Safety Zone Ordinance including Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, La Habra, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Westminster, and Yorba Linda. The Child Safety Zone Ordinance in Irvine and later Fountain Valley, after its second reading of the ordinance, does not apply to Engel because his prior indecent exposure case involved adult victims.
Deputy District Attorney Bobby Taghavi of the Felony Panel is prosecuting this case.
###