McMartin Trial Witness Held

McMartin Pre-School molestation trial witness George Freeman, who failed to return to court after claiming he received a threatening telephone call, was arrested and jailed early Friday morning, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.

Freeman, 45, was taken before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders, who ordered him held in lieu of $1 million bail, saying he was a material witness likely to run if allowed to remain free.

The fugitive witness was taken into custody at 5:45 a.m. by sheriff’s deputies without incident “at the place where he was residing,” according to Schuyler Sprowles, spokesman for Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner. Sprowles said that he did not know the location and that it was not necessarily Freeman’s home.

Sprowles said he did not know how deputies knew where to find Freeman, but “obviously they were operating with pretty good information.”

Pounders had issued a bench warrant for Freeman on Thursday after the witness told prosecutors that he had received a threatening call and “needed a few days to think.”

Without the key witness in hand, the judge recessed the McMartin trial until Tuesday. “We will resume with Mr. Freeman then if he is apprehended,” Pounders said.

Without the completion of Freeman’s testimony, Pounders has said, a mistrial will have to be declared in the case against Raymond Buckey. Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, are being tried on 99 counts of child molestation and one of conspiracy involving 14 children who attended the family’s Manhattan Beach preschool.

Freeman, with a record of five felony convictions, testified last week that Raymond Buckey told him while sharing a jail cell three years ago that he molested children and committed other criminal acts.

He was granted immunity from prosecution for previous perjuries early this week and was to be cross-examined by the defense.

He failed to appear in court Wednesday because of illness. On Thursday, he failed to appear again. Prosecutors said his daughter called to say that he was still sick and that she had taken him back to the hospital emergency room where he had been treated Wednesday.

The hospital had no record of his return, however.

1979 Case Cited

Later Thursday, Freeman telephoned Deputy Dist. Attys. Lael Rubin and Roger Gunson to say he had received a threatening call Wednesday night. It reportedly related to a 1979 homicide case in which Freeman is still a suspect.

Whoever called him, Rubin informed the judge, apparently told Freeman that if he testified, he would be forced to answer questions about that 1979 case.

The judge said he would not allow Freeman to be questioned about that matter.

“We will open with Freeman on Tuesday,” Sprowles said after the man was captured Friday morning.