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From Tribune news services
February 11, 2004
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- Three 12-year-old girls were hauled out of school in handcuffs after police accused them of making up a story that sent a homeless man to jail for eight months.
Last spring, the girls, then 11, told police they were stalked and attacked by Eric Nordmark, a 36-year-old hitchhiker, at a park in the Garden Grove region of Los Angeles. Nordmark was jailed on seven counts of assault and child molestation.
One of the girls later admitted that she and her friends made up the story to cover for her tardiness at school. The charges were dropped, and Nordmark was released.
The 12-year-old girls were booked on suspicion of conspiracy Monday and taken to Juvenile Hall in Orange County until a court hearing Wednesday. "They handcuffed her, with her arms behind her back. She was scared and started shaking," said the mother of one of the girls. "She's a little girl, but they handcuffed her like she was a murderer."
The three girls allegedly concocted the story so their parents would not punish them for coming home late from school: A homeless man lying near a bush motioned them over and then grabbed one of them. The girl managed to escape only after her friend bravely fought off the assailant.
The girl took the witness stand last month, testifying that Nordmark "started choking me. And then I turned purple . . . I couldn't breathe, and I felt like I was going to black out." Nordmark, who police said generally matched the description given by the girls, had spent eight months in jail awaiting trial. He could have faced 5 years in prison if convicted.
After her tearful testimony, however, the girl confessed to her mother that the story was not true. The girl who testified also faces a charge of perjury.
Authorities said the arrest of the girls was intended to send a message about the consequences of lying to police.
"They did something very serious," said Garden Grove Police Lt. Mike Handfield. "They put [an innocent] guy in jail for eight months." An attorney for one of the girls said Monday that police could have asked parents to bring their children to the police station, rather than make a show of their arrest on campus.
"This alleged crime is not a violent crime," said Shirley MacDonald Juarez, the attorney.
Police say one girl picked Nordmark out of a photo lineup and coached the others.
Nordmark's attorney, David Swanson, said the department could have uncovered the lie if they had been more careful. He said, for example, the department should have shuffled the order of the photo lineup so the first girl would not have been able to coach her friends.
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