Man accused of sex trafficking in ’90s with help of KCK cop released ahead of trial
A federal judge on Wednesday released a man who allegedly acted as the “enforcer” of a sex trafficking operation in the 1990s that prosecutors say was protected by a then-Kansas City, Kansas, police detective.
U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse in Topeka released LeMark Roberson, 60, ahead of trial after his lawyer argued that it was a “glaring disparity” that his client remained behind bars while the former cop, 69-year-old Roger Golubski, was released on house arrest.
Roberson, Golubski, Cecil Brooks, 60, and Richard “Bone” Robinson, 58, are accused of conspiring to run the trafficking ring from 1996 to 1998 out of apartments in KCK. They allegedly used violence to hold girls ages 13 to 17 there, forcing them to provide sexual services to them and other men, according to prosecutors. Golubski is accused of shielding their crimes from law enforcement investigation.
The charges came after years of KCK community members calling for Golubski to be indicted, claiming that he raped women and terrorized other residents when he worked for KCKPD from 1975 to 2010 as an officer, homicide detective and captain.
By the time the group was indicted, Roberson had been living in Willoughby, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. An Army veteran, he worked as a courier for the Veterans Administration Hospital after he was released in 2016 from federal prison, where he had been serving time for trafficking drugs with Brooks in Kansas. Brooks remains in prison on that case.
A federal magistrate in Ohio determined there were “no conditions” that would reasonably assure the safety of the community if Roberson were released, noting that prosecutors have described him as the most violent of the four men. He was allegedly the “muscle” in the trafficking operation, in which “he brutally victimized” vulnerable girls, the judge wrote.
In one case, Roberson stands accused of raping a teenage girl at the apartments and threatening to kill her. When she escaped, prosecutors said, she learned he impregnated her. She suffered from an ectopic pregnancy, which can be life-threatening if untreated.
Roberson is charged with two counts of “involuntary servitude” and one count of conspiracy against rights. Like the other men indicted, he faces life in prison if convicted.
At a hearing Wednesday, his lawyer, Paul Hood, sought his release ahead of trial, noting that Golubski was released to his Edwardsville home in Wyandotte County under electronic monitoring — even though he faces additional charges in a separate case.
Before he was charged in the 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.
Roberson was ordered not to travel outside of the northern half of Ohio unless for court dates.
