McGoldrick being held in county jail under $100,000 bond
A 69-year-old Sarasota man has been charged with Aggravated Stalking of a Child Under 16 and Loitering and Prowling by a Sexual Offender Close to Children, the Sarasota Police Department reported on July 22.
Mark Michael McGoldrick, of 1107 4oth St. — a registered sexual offender, the agency noted — is being held in the Sarasota County Jail. His bond was set at $100,000 on the loitering count, while no bond was set on the other charge, his booking record shows. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 22, the record notes.
On Monday evening, July 21, Sarasota Police Department detectives with the Criminal Investigations Division, along with Community Action Team officers, arrested McGoldrick, a Police Department news release says.
“McGoldrick is accused of attempting to lure a 13-year-old girl into his vehicle on Sunday evening,” the release explains. “The victim managed to record the incident on video before fleeing the area,” it adds, noting that she “later identified McGoldrick from a photo lineup.
“Through the investigation,” the release continued, “detectives learned that McGoldrick has allegedly been stalking the same child multiple times over the past year. The girl reported that he frequently approached her while she was alone at her school bus stop during the school year.”
During McGoldrick’s first court appearance — on July 22 — Circuit Judge Dana Moss provided “special conditions of release” on bond: electronic monitoring, no return to the child’s bus stop, and no contact with the victim and her family, plus an order not to “visit places where children congregate — schools, parks, malls, etc.”
The Police Department is asking that anyone with additional information regarding McGoldrick contact the department at 941-263-6773.
Multiple encounters described
The Probable Cause Affidavit for the cases explains that on July 20, a homeowner “flagged down” a Sarasota Police Department officer to inform him “of suspicious activity” near the person’s home. The man told the officers that two females had “knocked on his door and asked if he had any security cameras … that may have captured an incident from earlier in the day.” When he responded that he did not, the affidavit says, they left.
The man provided the females’ descriptions to the officer, who “was able to locate the victim,” the affidavit adds.
The victim — who had cell phone video footage of the encounter, the affidavit notes — reported that she was walking to Walmart to meet someone [whose name was redacted] “when a silver SUV stopped in the road near her …” She halted, to learn whether the driver needed assistance, the affidavit continues.
As she approached the vehicle, the affidavit says, she could hear the car doors being unlocked, so she began to film what was taking place out of concern for her safety.
The driver, later identified as McGoldrick, asked her through the open passenger side window, “ ‘How you doing?’ ” the affidavit adds, and then, “ ‘Where you going?’ ” The victim told him that she was “just walking around,” the affidavit says.
Then McGoldrick asked whether she was bored, followed by the statement, “ ‘We should take a ride, but it’s probably not a good idea,’ ” the affidavit notes.
When she responded, “ ‘What?’ ” the affidavit says, McGoldrick repeated his statement about her riding with him.
He proceeded to ask her more questions, the affidavit continues, including whether she lives in that area.
The victim told him that her family had moved, the affidavit adds, prompting McGoldrick to ask further questions. Among them was “ ‘Are you happy?’ ”
After the victim responded, “ ‘Yes,’ ” the affidavit says, McGoldrick told her, “ ‘It’s nice to see you and have a good day.’ ”
“The victim was frightened by the entire encounter” and ran away from his vehicle, the affidavit notes.
The sound with the video was difficult to her, the affidavit explains, because of a motorcycle engine running in the background. Nonetheless, it notes, the video showed that the vehicle was a silver Lexus SUV, and a stop sign was visible, as well as the street names Winton and Myrtle.
The victim undertook online research that led her to discover that McGoldrick was the driver of the SUV, the affidavit adds.
The victim told the officer that she sees McGoldrick “two or three times a week” at her school bus stop. Moreover, she reported that he had approached her on another occasion in Water Tower Park. “The victim said [McGoldrick] was so focused staring at her and her shirt neckline,” the affidavit continues, “that he did not notice when his dog ran away.” He also “kept telling the victim she was beautiful,” the affidavit notes.
On July 21, the affidavit says, a civilian investigator with the Police Department, a sergeant and a detective went to the victim’s home to follow up on the report. When the detective showed the victim a photo line-up, the affidavit adds, “she almost immediately” picked out the photo of McGoldrick.
After repeating the information she had provided earlier to the officer, the affidavit says, she reported that she had been seeing McGoldrick around 6:30 a.m. at her bus stop, when she was alone there; he “would be walking his dog.”
McGoldrick would talk with her, including asking her about her plans, the affidavit notes, but he would leave when other students showed up.
The school bus usually arrived at the stop at 6:39 a.m., the affidavit says.
Further, the victim told the police personnel that she had stopped going to Water Tower Park because she was afraid McGoldrick would show up there again. “She also advises that she now sleeps with a knife near her bed because she is afraid of McGoldrick finding out where she lives,” the affidavit points out.
“McGoldrick is a registered sex offender based upon a 1994 conviction” on a charge of lewd or lascivious committed upon or in the presence of persons less than 16 years of age, the affidavit adds. His most recent sex offender registration said that he had a silver Lexus RX350, the affidavit notes.
The civilian investigator added in the affidavit that he had “conducted several verifications at McGoldrick’s home” and had seen a silver Lexus SUV in the driveway. The vehicle he had observed matched the vehicle in the victim’s cell phone video, the investigator noted.