Charges in Molestation Case a Record : Abuse: Prosecutors say Richard E. Howard, 46, who is accused on 268 counts, dressed up as Santa Claus and offered bubble gum to lure girls from the age of 3 to 12.

A Washington state man who is accused of more counts of child molestation and pornography than anyone in San Diego County history was bound over for trial Friday after an emotional, eight-hour hearing that left the defendant in tears.

Prosecutors said Richard E. Howard, who turned 46 Friday, would stop at nothing to lure little girls into sexual relationships. A huge, balding man, he was said to frequent swap meets, offering girls bubble gum in exchange for hugs--and even dressing up as Santa Claus to win their affection.

Howard, who lived in San Diego under the alias Bob Barret Holder, is charged with 268 counts of child molestation and child pornography, among them charges that he made videotapes of some of the young girls he allegedly molested here in 1990 and 1991.

Howard, who has two prior convictions on molestation-related charges in Washington state, is being held in San Diego’s downtown jail on $5-million bail. All of Howard’s 11 alleged victims are girls from the age of 3 to 12. If convicted, Howard could be sentenced to nearly 500 years in prison.

But, on Friday, prosecution witnesses testified that the heavyset Howard, who carries more than 300 pounds on his 5-foot-10 frame, had assaulted four other girls. The prosecution reserved the right to add more counts to the complaint when Howard is arraigned in Superior Court on July 25.

Detective Scott Young of the Chula Vista Police Department described several interviews he had conducted with girls who said Howard, whom they knew as Holder, molested them.

Young testified that one 10-year-old girl told him that Howard had tried to force her hand onto his genitals. He also purportedly showed some girls sexually explicit photos, especially those depicting oral copulation.

“He was explaining what was happening on each page,” Young said, referring to notes he had taken on interviews with the girls. “He told her what she was seeing in the magazine was good . . . and said he had done these types of things with other little girls.”

At a yard sale in Chula Vista in 1989, Young said, Howard was exposing himself to a group of girls. Later, he returned to the sale and said, within the hearing of one girl’s mother, “See, you guys? I told you I would be back to buy a little girl!”

Young said the woman who told him that also said that Howard had a large roll of money in his hand at the time.

Timothy Drum, a child-abuse detective with the National City police, said he had interviewed an 11-year-old girl who said she met Howard at a swap meet in National City before Christmas, 1990.

“She said he offered her bubble gum if she would give him a hug,” Drum said, adding that Howard usually hugged the small girl while he was standing up, pressing her tightly against him. “It bothered her.”

Both Young and Drum testified that girls told them that Howard often wore cutoff shorts without underwear, and would often assume positions that revealed his genitalia.

One girl told Drum that Howard would often pretend to drop his keys and bend over.

Howard’s court-appointed attorney, Albert Bradley, argued before Municipal Judge Richard J. Hanscom that the videotapes that prosecutors have seized from Howard’s car should not be admitted into evidence because the arrest and the search and seizure were improperly done. Hanscom disagreed, allowing the videotapes into evidence, as well as several snapshots of young girls.

Among the snapshots, most of which depicted naked young girls, a few had handwritten captions, Young said. One said, “Hot enough for ya’?” Another said, “Let’s get physical.”