California Man Pleads
Guilty In Sexual Abuse
Of A Minor In Costa Rica
A 61-year-old Orinda,
California, real estate
executive and former
Saint Mary's College
professor pleaded guilty
Friday morning to
producing child
pornography in a case in
which he traveled to
Costa Rica to have sex
with a 12-year-old girl.
Leonard Auerbach faces a
minimum sentence of 15
years in a U.S. prison
and a maximum of 30
years.
In April, Auerbach fled
the United States after
charges were initially
filed. After being named
a "most wanted" fugitive
by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, he
was arrested in Cuba by
local authorities in May
and extradited back to
the United States in
June.
Cuba and the United
States do not have an
extradition treaty; Cuba
expelled him because of
the "grave" nature of
his crimes, according to
U.S. immigration
officials.
From 2003 to 2007,
Auerbach traveled to a
house he owned in Costa
Rica about 40 times.
Images found at his
Orinda home in August
2007 included child
pornography taken in
Costa Rica in 2004 when
the girl in the images
was 12, according to the
indictment.
Auerbach also referred
to her as his
"girlfriend," admitted
her age and said in a
secretly recorded
conversation in July
2007 that he had sex
with her, according to
immigration officials.
The $540,000 Costa Rica
house was seized by the
U.S. government.
When Auerbach fled to
Cuba, Rob Christman, who
worked with Auerbach
from 1988 to 1996, got
an e-mail from him
bragging that he had
escaped arrest.
"I am in some kind of
Paradise here and I'm so
safe, it's laughable,"
Chrisman said Auerbach
wrote in one e-mail.
Auerbach's lawyer, Paul
Wolf of Oakland, said he
had no comment on the
plea deal other than to
be "sorry to see it
happen to him and his
family." "In other ways,
Lenny lived an admirable
life," Wolf said.
Auerbach will be
sentenced Nov. 14. |
