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A retired attorney from Woodside in San Mateo County was found guilty of sexual crimes involving children, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced.
On Wednesday, May 27, Alan Russell, 83, was found guilty by a jury of being in possession of child sex abuse material and molesting several minors.
Russell’s crimes occurred 20 years ago and spanned eight years, according to the county Sheriff’s Office, and he used his role as a family friend to molest three young boys whom he took on trips. He was arrested in March 2023.
Russell’s attorney Peter Goldscheider said his client was “very disappointed” by the verdict and that he plans to appeal.
Goldscheider said the fact that the witnesses took between 20 and 30 years to come forward made the allegations difficult to rebut.
“I believe the entire prosecution was beyond the statute of limitations,” Goldscheider wrote in an email Thursday, May 28, adding that it was “an interesting issue the courts of appeal and perhaps Supreme Court will be called on to address.”
Russell is scheduled to be sentenced on June 22 and is facing life in prison. He was remanded into custody after being out on $2.5 million bail, according to Wagstaffe.
The trial started earlier this year but was delayed in January after Russell was placed on a 14-day involuntary psychiatric hold at Stanford Hospital.
At the time, Superior Court Judge Renee Reyna found Russell “voluntarily absented” himself from the trial by attempting suicide with a pellet gun shortly before the first day of opening statements on Jan. 20.
