PHOENIX — An accused serial child predator is out on bond and living near children, despite detectives finding additional alleged teen sex abuse victims.
Gordon Golding was first arrested in August for allegedly sexually assaulting and providing marijuana to two 13-year-old girls he met on Instagram.
Since that arrest, the kickboxing instructor has been re-indicted in a new case. Investigators say there are now six victims. Four of the victims are 13-years-old, one is 17-years-old and one woman is 25. The abuse though, according to court documents, may have started as early as eight or nine for one girl.
Golding is a former faculty member with Paradise Valley Community College's Fitness Center where he was a part-time kickboxing instructor.
Court documents allege he used his title as an instructor to find potential victims. He is also accused of using Instagram to lure teenage girls, providing them marijuana and alcohol, then reportedly sexually assaulting them.
He is now facing 44 counts, including sexual abuse, voyeurism, sexual conduct with a minor and attempted child molestation.
"I think this is going to go on for a while. I think this guy was a serial pedophile, and he knew the art of it very well," said the father of one of the victims.
In probable cause statements, multiple girls told investigators that Golding would pick them up from home in the middle of the night, get them high or drunk and then coerce them into taking their shirts off. The teenage victims say he would frequently touch and take pictures of their naked bodies, even tying up their "ankles and wrists with fuzzy chains."
"He took advantage of the whole situation and provided them with drugs," said one victim's father.
Police indicate Golding was well aware of the crimes, writing in charging documents that he told the girls to lie about their age to another person in the house and after taking pictures said he would later delete them because they were child pornography.
"I just don’t want to have any other young ladies to go through what my daughter went through, or some of these other girls had to go through. He’s a very sick individual," said the victim's father.
After his first arrest in August, investigators obtained new search warrants that they executed on Golding's home in mid-December. The warrants indicate that Golding did not delete the alleged pictures or videos he is accused of taking.
In the most recent probable cause statement, a detective wrote "several items containing videos of [Golding] were found where he is clearly seen engaging in sexual contact" with a teenage victim.
Golding has maintained his innocence. "They’re made up. They’re messed up - made up," Golding said when ABC15 knocked on his door. "I can’t really talk about [the charges] but I’m not guilty. I’m innocent until proven guilty."
According to an initial court appearance, Golding cashed out his only asset, his 401(k), in order to pay his first $150,000 bond - which was reduced from $300,000 - and hire a lawyer since he was not declared indigent. He was fired from his job after his first arrest, so his financial circumstance changed, his lawyer argued during the bond discussion.
The state asked for another $150,000 bond after his second December arrest, but the judge took into account Golding wearing an ankle monitor, not having a passport, and self-surrendering for his second arrest and decided to make his bond $7,500 cash.
"That doesn’t feel right, especially for the victims. I don’t feel that it’s right at all," said one of Golding's neighbors, Sandra, who also has two young children. "It’s unnerving to have that in your neighborhood."
"We were never told he was re-arrested! And the fact that he got out on another bond, with my child being a victim, we should’ve been notified," said the victim's father. "We would’ve gone to his hearing for his release and said our piece about it."
Golding is facing life in prison if convicted. The parents of the victims say they are intent on fighting until he is back behind bars.
"I would like to see him go to prison for the rest of his natural life," said the victim's father. "That’s what I’m looking for, those girls to feel safe again knowing that he’ll never touch another girl."
