Man accused of raping drunk teen is released after bail is reduced
BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer sswenson@bakersfield.com
A Bakersfield man charged with raping an intoxicated 14-year-old girl is out of jail.
The girl’s mother said Tuesday she is shocked, angry and afraid for her daughter.
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Richard James Berkowitz and his attorney Deputy Public Defender Richard Terry courtesy KBAK Channel 29
“He knows where she goes to school,” the mother said.
The Californian does not identify sexual assault victims so it is not naming the mother.
Richard James Berkowitz, 43, had been in jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, but his bail was reduced Friday to $250,000 at the request of his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Richard Terry.
Deputy District Attorney Art Norris objected, but Judge Richard J. Oberholzer said he had no basis not to set the bail at the amount called for in a bail schedule.
The bail schedule is a list of bail amounts set each year by local judges for specific crimes.
Berkowitz is accused of picking up the girl on the morning of July 20 as she slept on Gosford Road near White Lane.
She had been drinking at a party with other teens and apparently passed out as she was walking home, police reported.
Berkowitz took the girl to his house and sexually assaulted her, Bakersfield police reported.
As he took her to a school to drop her off, he told her he was trying to teach her a lesson not to drink, police reported.
Berkowitz was arrested after the girl described the house and some of the things inside of it, including sex toys and a picture of his son.
The girl also told police the first name of Berkowitz’s wife.
The girl’s mother said she found out Monday that Berkowitz had been freed from the jail.
“I was very, very angry,” she said.
“I’m scared for my daughter and other girls,” she said.
Berkowitz, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 13.
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