Rape Suspect Says He’s Innocent, a ‘Great’ Dad : Crime: The father of three children being held in connection with the sexual assault of an Irvine girl, 11, says in a jail interview that he is a danger to no one.

SANTA ANA —  A former Beverly Hills police officer, charged in the rape of an 11-year-old Irvine girl, repeatedly denied Friday that he committed the crime, saying he is a “great daddy” and that there is “no evidence to support allegations that I am a danger to anyone.”

“I am not guilty,” said Steven Rush McCoy, 36, in an interview at the Orange County Jail. “They should be looking for the suspect over at the San Diego Zoo in the orangutan section. Whoever did this was an animal.”

McCoy, a former Sunday school teacher and father of three children, appeared relaxed, spoke calmly and occasionally chuckled during an hourlong interview behind a glass partition. He is being held on $250,000 bail on six counts stemming from the rape of the girl Monday.

Police allege that a man, masquerading as a deliveryman carrying a package, persuaded the girl to open the door, raped her at knifepoint, then removed evidence as he fled.

McCoy said that on Monday he was lounging around the living room of his apartment at 7 p.m., forming dinner plans with his roommate after a day of watching video movies, when he was arrested by Irvine police.

McCoy contended that he could not have committed the crime. He said he had been home all day with friends and left the apartment only to take out the trash and deliver a cake to Irvine police officers as a gesture of gratitude for their help in removing a 15-year-old runaway girl staying at his apartment.

However, Irvine Police Lt. Mike White said that investigators have been analyzing a host of evidence that he alleges links McCoy to the crime--much of which was seized when officers searched his apartment. Among clothing and other items confiscated was a book entitled, “How to Assert an Insanity Defense.”

McCoy’s attorney, Barry Simons, would not rule out the possibility of using an insanity defense but would not comment further on the direction of the case.

McCoy said a knife that police found in rubbish behind the victim’s home may have been his, but he contended that it could have been placed there by a number of people who were spending time at his apartment with his new roommate.

McCoy, a Los Angeles native, became a reserve police officer in the Beverly Hills Police Department in October, 1976. He became a full-time officer in January, 1978, but was dismissed that August. Beverly Hills police officials have refused to disclose the reason for the dismissal.

McCoy said that he was in a off-duty motorcycle accident. Because he was disabled by the crash, he said, the department let him go during his probationary period.

McCoy then worked at various investment companies as a broker until he landed a job at Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1986. He said he has been on medical leave since May, 1989.

McCoy said that he once owned a Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL, traveled the world and made $250,000 a year. Now he faces a bitter divorce, a child custody battle and bankruptcy, according to court documents.

In addition, McCoy faces misdemeanor grand theft and burglary charges, White said. McCoy was arrested March 15 after he allegedly tried to cash a forged check for $4,900. McCoy said the check was from his new business, a foreign consulting company, which he started out of his home at the Stanford Court apartments.

McCoy acknowledged having psychological problems in recent years, but he blamed them on a drug prescribed by psychiatrists for stress after leaving Drexel.

“My behavior became bizarre, and I wasn’t myself,” McCoy read from a prepared statement, which he had brought to the interview.

He said he was hospitalized in August or September, 1988, and stopped taking the medicine.

But that did not end the psychological problems, according to divorce documents filed in January, 1989, in Orange County Superior Court by his estranged wife.

Sandra McCoy alleged in court documents that her husband had descended into such a mental state in November and December of 1988 that he yelled at the family and slapped her and their three young children, forcing her to move out of their Dana Point home.

“He also told me he believed God is telling him to do all the things that he has been doing and also believes that I am possessed by a demon,” Sandra McCoy said in the court documents.

She accused her husband of being “psychotic” and dangerous, subject to a mixed personality disorder with borderline narcissistic features. None of the psychiatrists she cited in court documents could be reached for comment Friday.

McCoy denied ever hitting his children, except to spank them when they misbehaved. He rebutted his wife’s claims that he was mentally unstable.

“I am fully recovered,” McCoy said. “There’s no evidence to support allegations that I am a danger to anyone, that I might go crazy at any time.

“I’m a great daddy,” he said. “My children absolutely love me, and I love them. They’re my best therapy from the stress of work.”