Rockefeller now held without bail

Here’s the AP story.

This from Suffolk County DA’s spokesman Jake Wark:

BOSTON, Oct. 2, 2008–A Suffolk Superior Court judge today ordered the man formerly known as Clark Rockefeller held without bail, reversing the decision of a clerk magistrate days earlier and citing the defendant’s “ingenious capacity to transform himself.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley hailed Judge D. Lloyd Macdonald’s decision to withhold bail from CHRISTIAN KARL GERHARTSREITER (D.O.B. 2/21/61).

“This defendant has eluded authorities before – we’d prefer not to give him another chance,” Conley said, citing Gerhartsreiter’s 1988 disappearance from a job on Wall Street when he learned that Connecticut investigators were looking for him. “We’ve maintained, after reviewing decades of deception, that no monetary bail will ensure his appearance before the court.”

At a bail review hearing called by the defendant’s attorney, Assistant District Attorney David Deakin told Macdonald that he made his “concededly unusual request” to deny Gerhartsreiter bail because of the extraordinary degree of planning and prevarication that went into his 7-year-old daughter’s July 27 abduction and the years of phony names and stories that preceded it.

Ruling from the bench, Macdonald rejected defense suggestions to outfit Gerhartsreiter with a GPS monitoring bracelet, saying “there have been numerous instances of persons removing” the devices.

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Text message in the Rockefeller case*

*I got this message from the Suffolk County DA’s office this afternoon. Looks like Clark Rockefeller’s attorney Stephen Hrones is going to ask that bail be reduced from $50,000,000 for the one time fugitive:

The defense attorney for CHRISTIAN KARL GERHARTSREITER, a.k.a. Clark Rockefeller, is expected to be in the First Session of the Suffolk Superior Court tomorrow at noon for a bail hearing before a judge; Assistant District Attorney David Deakin is representing the Commonwealth.

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Rockefeller held on $50 million bail

From the Suffolk County DA’s office:

BOSTON, Sept. 29, 2008–A Suffolk Superior Court clerk magistrate today set bail at $50 million cash for the kidnapping defendant formerly known as Clark Rockefeller, “based on what I perceive the risk [of flight] to be.”

Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson did not adopt prosecutors’ requests to continue holding CHRISTIAN KARL GERHARTSREITER (D.O.B. 2/21/61) without bail, but set it at an amount well beyond the $25,000 recommended by Gerhartsreiter’s attorney.

Gerhartsreiter may also post 10 times the cash amount in property as surety – in this case, $500 million.

At the agreement of Assistant District Attorney David Deakin and defense attorney Stephen Hrones, Wilson also scheduled Gerhartsreiter’s trial for March 23.

Wilson was prepared to allow both parties a full year to prepare for those proceedings. Indicted Friday by a Suffolk County grand jury, Gerhartsreiter today pleaded not guilty to single counts of kidnapping a minor relative, assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and furnishing a false name to police officers.

AP article on Gerhartsreiter’s plea:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGbAirbzAI5iGCtDGLR58A4-gYQwD93GELI00 

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Boston grand jury indicts Rockefeller as Gerhartsreiter

O’Ryan Johnson at the Boston Herald writes:

The man once known as Clark Rockefeller was formally charged today with crimes he allegedly committed in early August when he ran off with his daughter during a supervised visit with a social worker.

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury for parental kidnapping, assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and providing a false name to police, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office.

Gerhartsreiter fled from the Back Bay, prompting a week-long manhunt, during which authorities began to uncover a twisted pattern of false identities and possible ties to murdered California newlyweds.

 

Here’s a press release from the Suffolk County DA’s Office:

BOSTON, Sept. 26, 2008–A Suffolk County grand jury today returned indictments charging CHRISTIAN KARL GERHARTSREITER (D.O.B. 2/21/61) with parental kidnapping, assault-related offenses, and providing a phony name to the Boston Police detectives investigating the case, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.
Currently held without bail on similar district court complaints, the indictments move Gerhartsreiter’s case to Superior Court, where it will be adjudicated. Conley said he expects Gerhartsreiter to be arraigned on the indicted charges Monday.
Gerhartsreiter – formerly known as “Clark Rockefeller,” among other aliases – allegedly kidnapped his daughter on July 27, during their first scheduled visit following his divorce from her mother.
Under the terms of their 2007 divorce, Gerhartsreiter and his ex-wife agreed that she would have legal custody of her daughter and that Gerhartsreiter would be allowed a limited number of visits each year, with those visits monitored by an independent social worker. In addition to the kidnapping charge, Gerhartsreiter is also charged with assault and battery for allegedly shoving that social worker to the ground during the abduction and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon – the sport utility vehicle in which he escaped – for allegedly directing his driver to accelerate when he knew the social worker was holding on to the moving vehicle’s door. Those charges carry maximum penalties of 2 years in a house of correction and 10 years in state prison, respectively.
Finally, Gerhartsreiter was also indicted today for giving a false name to a police officer, a crime punishable by up to a year behind bars from and after any sentence for the underlying offense for which he was arrested. Gerhartsreiter incurred that charge by identifying himself as “Clark Rockefeller” to the Boston Police detectives interviewing him upon his August arrest.
“That the victim in this case is the defendant’s own daughter doesn’t minimize the wrongness of his actions,” Conley said. “He took her across state lines without her legal guardian’s knowledge or permission – it’s any parent’s worst nightmare. People on the run take risks they wouldn’t in other circumstances, and we’re all very lucky that this young girl suffered no long-term physical injury as a result of her ordeal.”
Gerhartsreiter’s arraignment will likely take place Monday morning in the Magistrate’s Session of Suffolk Superior Court, located on the seventh floor of the courthouse. The defendant is represented by attorney Stephen Hrones.

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Searching for remains in the Rockefeller/Sohus case

As you know by now the search for remains at 1920 Lorain Road in San Marino has begun. Officials expect it to last several days, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Here’s some pictures I shot at the scene. They dont’ say much , but interesting nonetheless.

Several neighbors had fascinating recollections of Clark Rockefeller, who was Christopher Chichester back in the 1980s. He’s a person of interest int he 23-year-old missing persons case/homicide investigation.

Anyway more posts later, Here’s my photos (taken with a Palm Treo):

 

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 Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore speaks about the case. 1920 Lorain is in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15004-sv30-chichester2-thumb-300x300.jpgNeighbors watch the search commence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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San Marino PD officers patrol near the former Sohus estate on Lorain Road.

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Clark Rockefeller: “I’ve never hurt anyone”

Part two of Natalie Morales’ interview with Clark Rockefeller features an interesting confrontation between Morales and Rockefeller’s attorney Stephen Hrones.

Morales, to her credit, asks some tough questions about Rockefeller/Chichester’s relationship with John and Linda Sohus. She gets immediately interrupted and reprimanded by Hrones.

Rockefeller also shares some of his fondest childhood memories, including a trip to Mt. Rushmore in a “woody” station wagon. The interview:

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Clark Rockefeller describes pain of missing his daughter

The London Telegraph reports on a second installment of Dateline’s interview with Clark Rockefelelr, aka Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter. Here’s a bit of their story, and a photo of Rockefeller posing with reporter Natalie Morales:

The bespectacled father, who police say is actually a German-born national called Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, gave an interview to NBC, due to be broadcast in two parts next week.

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In an excerpt shown on Thursday night, Rockefeller says he hoped to live a life of obscurity in Baltimore with his daughter, Reigh Storrow Boss, who he is accused of snatching from a Boston street on July 27 before fleeing to New York and then Maryland.

During the six days they were missing, he did not think about returning Reigh to her mother, Sandra Boss, he says, because being with her was “almost like a drug”.

The couple’s marriage ended last year and Reigh was on a social worker-supervised visit to see her father from the UK at the time of the alleged kidnapping, their first contact in seven months.

Rockefeller told NBC he took his daughter to Baltimore because he could not afford the life he wanted in Boston.

Asked if he planned to go into hiding, he said “That’s perhaps an extreme way of saying it. I just wanted to live an obscure life in Baltimore.”

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