Nye County District Attorney Angela Bello is clarifying a statement she made this month regarding the Beatty man charged with allegedly sexually assaulting a 4-year-old female.
Frank Montgomery Goodson, 55, was arrested back in July after the Nye County Sheriff’s Office conducted a month-long investigation into a report of lewdness with a child under 14, after the 4-year-old disclosed that a man she knew as “Monty,” had touched her inappropriately.
Bello initially said prosecutors recently dismissed the original charges without prejudice, due to issues involving at least two witnesses, who were unavailable at the time.
“Frank Montgomery Goodson had a criminal complaint against him dismissed and refilled by my office,” Bello said this week. “The report included statements made by me to the Pahrump Valley Times on Oct. 13, 2015, indicating witness unavailability caused the need for the dismissal and refiling. Thereafter, I discovered the witness issue was the basis for the Tonopah deputy district attorney having to obtain a postponement of the preliminary (probable cause) hearing which had been scheduled for Sept. 21, 2015.”
Bello also said in regards to the dismissal and refiling, both of which occurred during the first week of October, the deputy district attorney had determined to take the action to avoid having to put the 4-year-old victim on the stand to testify.
She noted that Goodman is now back behind bars.
“On Oct.14, 2015, Mr. Goodson was booked on additional charges involving another minor victim and is currently in the custody of the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.” Bello said.
Following a thorough investigation in July, Goodson was identified as the suspect and was brought in by police for questioning.
According to the initial arrest report, Goodson admitted during the interview to touching the victim’s genitals for the purpose of sexual gratification at his residence on two to three occasions between October 2014 and January 2015, police said at the time.
Goodson was arrested after his admission and transported to the Nye County Detention Center where he was booked on three preliminary charges of lewdness with a child under 14.
Contact Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. Follow @sharrispvt on Twitter.