A superior court judge reduced bail Tuesday for a former maintenance supervisor accused of sexually assaulting seven girls and one woman at the Northfield community center where he worked.
Robert Magoon, 74, a Tilton resident who previously worked as a police officer in Concord and Franklin, had been at the Merrimack County jail on $150,000 cash bail since his arrest May 23. On Tuesday, his public defender, Catherine Flinchbaugh, persuaded Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Diane Nicolosi to reduce Magoon’s bail to $10,000.
However, Nicolosi did so on the condition that if Magoon posts bail, he will be under the close supervision of the Merrimack County Pretrial Services Program.
Assistant Merrimack County Attorney Wayne Coull objected to the bail reduction, and told Nicolosi that the $150,000 bail previously set and upheld by the district court was appropriate.
A Merrimack County grand jury indicted Magoon in mid-August on 15 charges. He faces 13 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, and one count each of felonious sexual assault and simple assault.
Magoon waived his arraignment on the charges Tuesday.
The alleged acts took place at the Pines Community Center in Northfield, where Magoon was employed as a maintenance supervisor for 13 years before his termination and arrest in May.
Magoon is accused of a pattern of sexual assault on five girls, now ages 8 to 12, between August 2012 and May 2016. Further, he is accused of groping a girl, now 9, later in 2015, and of kissing a girl, now 14, in summer 2015.
The newest charges also allege that Magoon sexually assaulted a 29-year-old adult who “has a disability that renders her incapable of freely arriving at an independent choice as to whether or not to engage in sexual conduct.”
According to indictments, Magoon performed oral sex on her and tried to have her perform oral sex on him.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Magoon had not been released from the county jail in Boscawen. If he does post bail, he must wear an electronic tracking device, adhere to a curfew, submit to random home visitations, stay away from the community center and have no contact with children under the age of 18.