A former-Los Angeles County Fire Department captain pleaded no contest to two of the 12 charges against him as part of a plea deal that includes more than two years of prison time and a 10-year restraining order.
Robert Goldman, 65, was arrested last February after prosecutors say he led a high-speed pursuit that began in Palmdale, traveled through the Santa Clarita Valley and was ultimately called off by law enforcement personnel due to dangerous, triple-digit speeds.
Law enforcement investigators said at the time of Goldman’s initial arrest that earlier in the day, Goldman had violated a restraining order and coaxed his girlfriend into his car on the 19300 block of Soledad Canyon Road.
He then traveled to Palmdale, where his girlfriend said she needed to use the bathroom and she informed the staff inside that she had been kidnapped.
“We had a report of a kidnapping. We tried to stop him, and he decided to flee,” Lt. Joshua Borbon of the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station said the day after the initial incident. “And we pursued.”
Goldman reportedly had also been out on bail for several other previous charges, and had several arrest warrants to his name totaling $650,000 in bail, according to Lt. Ignacio Somoano.
In total, Goldman was charged on suspicion of 12 felonies on Feb. 13, 2020, a little less than a week after the incident had occurred.
However, he was required to plead no contest — what is treated the same as a guilty plea — to one felony count each of recklessly evading law enforcement and disobeying a domestic violence court order, with all 10 other charges being dismissed as part of a plea deal with the District Attorney’s Office.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge in San Fernando sentenced him May 20 to two years and 8 months in state prison, and he will have to abide by a 10-year restraining order when he’s released.
