Daughters of former conservative hero testify against him in molestation case

Three of former border militiaman Chris Simcox's daughters testified against him in the former Republican candidate's sexual molestation trial.

Simcox is representing himself in his trial on six counts of child molestation and furnishing pornography to minors, although he's not allowed to question the children he's accused of abusing, reported the Phoenix New-Times.

However, the border vigilante cross-examined his adult daughter -- who accused him of molesting her decades ago, when she was a child.

Linsey Randich, now 33, testified that she spent summers with her father in California, as part of a custody agreement after her parents divorced when she was 2 years old.

She told jurors that Simcox, who was then a kindergarten teacher at the private Wildwood School in Los Angeles, had fondled her genitals while hosing her off after swimming at the beach -- even though she was 10 years old and old enough to clean herself.

Randich said her father again fondled her genitals four years later, while she was sleeping, and she told her mother she did not want to go back to California to see her father, but her mother said she couldn't do anything to change the custody agreement.

She told jurors her father had molested her the final time a year or two later, when she was 15, as he massaged her after hiking with her brother.

Randich said she fled to a neighbor's house and reported the abuse.

Los Angeles police investigated her claims, and Randich was placed in a foster home and then returned to her mother, and she eventually decided not to cooperate in the investigation because she did not want to testify at the time.

Simox, who co-founded the anti-immigration Minuteman Project, grilled his adult daughter about whether she'd undergone counseling, and she testified that she had, but only after the incident she reported to police.

Randich also denied that she accused a man at church of molesting her, and she told her father that he had never caught her with a boy at his apartment.

"I felt scared and uneasy around him most of the time," Randich testified, saying she was frequently grounded by her father, who she remembers as an angry and volatile person.

She said she hadn't seen or spoken to her father in 18 or 19 years, and she didn't know she had two half-sisters until about three years ago, when Phoenix police questioned her about the California case.

Randich said she decided to testify after learning Simcox was accused of molesting one of her half-sisters -- who also testified.

One of his daughters told jurors that Simcox had touched her crotch as she showered, and she said he penetrated her with stick on another occasion.

She also testified about a third incident at a swimming pool, but the newspaper reported her memory was vague, and she told jurors that her father had shown her explicit videos.

The girl's sister testified that she didn't recall their father touch her sister inappropriately, but she said he was mean to the girl.

Simcox, who frequently appeared as a guest on Fox News, questioned the daughter who was not classified as a victim, and he questioned another girl who accused him of bribing her into removing her clothes.

That girl, who lived in the same apartment complex as Simcox and played with his daughters, said the former U.S. Senate candidate gave her candy in exchange for removing her pants and underwear.

Charges involving that girl, who is now 9, were later dropped, so she was not classified as a victim.

Simcox, who has been held without bail since his arrest three years ago, faces a potential life sentence if he's convicted on all counts.