A man accused of kidnapping his young daughter last summer will also face trial on a charge of furnishing a false name to the police who arrested him, a Suffolk Superior Court judge has decided.

Judge Frank Gaziano, who will preside over the upcoming trial of CHRISTIAN KARL GERHARTSREITER (D.O.B. 2/21/61), on April 17 denied a motion by the defendant’s attorneys to dismiss that charge, for which Gerhartsreiter was indicted last year by a Suffolk County grand jury. Under Ch. 268, Sect. 34A, of the Massachusetts General Laws, the offense carries up to a year behind bars.

Assistant District Attorney David Deakin argued that Gerhartsreiter identified himself as CLARK ROCKEFELLER “for dishonest purposes” in statements following his arrest by Boston Police. In the course of their investigation into the alleged kidnapping of his daughter, Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors developed evidence that Gerhartsreiter was born in Germany, came to the United States on a tourist visa, extended his stay on a student visa, and became a permanent resident in 1981.

“The defendant’s first argument that the indictment should be dismissed because ‘there was no evidence whatsoever adduced that Rockefeller adopted the name for purposes of deceiving police’ is based on a misreading of Sect. 34A,” Gaziano wrote. “The statute proscribes giving a police officer a false name after arrest, and the [case law] focuses on whether the defendant had a dishonest purpose in giving that name to the police at the time that he offered the name, not when he adopted the name in the first place” [italics in original].

Citing various offenses that could result in Gerhartsreiter’s deportation – including the charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, for which he was also indicted as part of the kidnapping investigation – Gaziano wrote, “the grand jury heard sufficient evidence to show probable cause that the defendant failed to identify himself as Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter after his arrest for the dishonest purpose of avoiding possible deportation pursuant to 8 U.S.C. Sects. 1227(a)(2) and (a)(3).”

Gerhartsreiter is represented by attorneys Jeffrey Denner, Timothy Bradl, and Stephen Hrones. He will appear in court next on May 11; his trial is expected to begin on May 26.