Lawyer calls it a ‘disparity’ that Golubski is out while co-defendant remains in jail
A lawyer for one of the alleged sex traffickers who prosecutors say was protected by a former Kansas City, Kansas, detective called it a “glaring disparity” that his client remained behind bars.
During a hearing Wednesday at the U.S. courthouse in Topeka, attorney Paul Hood described it as unfair that LeMark Roberson, 60, was detained ahead of trial by a federal judge in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was arrested, while the former cop, 69-year-old Roger Golubski, was released on house arrest.
Hood said he meant “no offense” to Golubski, who sat nearby at the defense table with his other lawyer, but noted that the former detective is also facing additional charges in a separate case.
Roberson, Golubski and two other men, Cecil Brooks, 60, and Richard “Bone” Robinson, 58, are accused of conspiring to run a sex trafficking operation from early 1996 to late 1998 out of apartments in KCK. The apartments, at Delavan Avenue and 26th Street, were owned by Brooks, who is already in federal prison for trafficking drugs in Kansas.
The men allegedly used physical violence, threats and coercion to hold girls ages 13 to 17 at the apartments. They supplied the addicted girls with drugs and forced them to provide sexual services to them and other men, prosecutors said.
The charges came after KCK community members in recent years called for Golubski to be indicted. Residents have accused Golubski, who worked for KCKPD from 1975 to 2010 as a homicide detective and then as a captain, of having terrorized the city’s impoverished north end throughout his career.
After Roberson was arrested last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Dowdell Armstrong in Ohio determined there were “no conditions” that would reasonably assure the safety of the community if Roberson were released. She noted that prosecutors have described him as the most violent of the men.
Roberson’s lawyer filed a motion to review his detention, saying pre-trial service officers have suggested Roberson be released. U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse will hear the lawyer’s arguments Wednesday afternoon.
Magistrate Judge Rachel Schwartz previously released Golubski to his Edwardsville home in Wyandotte County under electronic monitoring, noting he has serious health problems that require regular attention.
Before he was charged in the sex trafficking case, Golubski was indicted in September on civil rights charges that allege he sexually assaulted and kidnapped a woman and a teenage girl from 1998 to 2002. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
At the hearing Wednesday morning, Brooks and Roberson appeared in handcuffs, belly chains and jail uniforms, while Golubski and Robinson — who has also been released ahead of trial — walked in with their lawyers.
Attorney Justin Johnston, who represents Robinson, called discovery in the case “voluminous” and believed there would be “considerably more to come.”
The men’s next hearing is set for March 29. Separately, Golubski will appear in court March 14 in his individual case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Hunting said while there is some overlap in evidence, Golubski’s civil rights case did not need to proceed on a “parallel” track as the sex trafficking case, which the judge described as the “Brooks matter.”
