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Policia Nacional Civil / Reuters
Jeffrey Reed Parish, center, "appeared to know why he was being arrested" after 18 years on the run, according to the FBI.
LOS ANGELES - A California man who spent 18 years on the run from charges that he molested a four-year-old girl has been arrested in Guatemala and returned to the United States for prosecution, authorities said Tuesday.
Jeffrey Reed Parish, 65, was taken into custody by Guatemalan police without incident on Thursday at his home in Panajachel, about 90 miles from Guatemala City, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
Eimiller said the fugitive, who was living under the assumed name "Blake," did not resist and "appeared to know why he was being arrested."
He was deported back to the United States on Saturday, accompanied by an FBI agent and a Santa Barbara County Sheriff's sergeant, she said.
Parish had been scheduled for trial in Santa Barbara Municipal Court in March 1994 when he vanished. Officials believe that Parish may have molested other victims before his initial arrest, according to NBC station KSBY.
U.S. detectives looked at Parish's file in 2011 as part of a routine effort to solve cold cases, according to the LA Times. They sent out an "age-enhanced" picture based on a mug shot taken in 1994, the newspaper reported.
Investigators were assisted by the FBI's legal attache in San Salvador and the Transnational Anti-Gang unit of the Guatemalan National Police.
FBI Special Agent Ingerd Sotelo, who with a Santa Barbara County Sheriff's detective was credited with finding Parish, said the wanted man told her he had initially fled to Mexico but spent most of the past 18 years in Panajachel.
'He was just Blake'
Sotelo told Reuters that Parish traveled there after hearing that the small, picturesque town on the shores of Lake Atitlan was home to a large contingent of Westerners and had eked out a living by doing gardening work.
"Nobody there knew whether it was first name or last," Det. Ted Toedte of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department told the LA Times. "He was just Blake."
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Others may be charged on suspicion of helping Parish to remain at large, Toedte added.
Parish, who was accused of molesting a four-year-old girl in the beachside community of Carpenteria, near Santa Barbara, was expected to be prosecuted on the original charges of lewd acts on a child and oral copulation.
It was not immediately clear if Parish had retained a lawyer in California.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
I wonder how many Guatemalan children he molested.
HANG him.....one less piece of shhhittt kids have to worry about.....
"Really? Just LOOK at him, old white male, yeah he did it for sure! It's the typical thing for them".
What a stupid thing to say. So in your eyes ALL older white males are pedophiles? Really now? Just look at you! Yo mama probably had to tie a pork chop around yo neck to get the dogs to play with you when you were a kid!
And while yet the Boyscouts have recently made it public that it is maintaining its ban on homos in their organization, this person would have been a viable candidate. Just sayin'.
Oh, for heaven's sake, if you want to generalize more than 90% of sex crimes are perpetrated by MEN!
Men suck. I would have voted for Hiliary.
Sandusky should have grown a beard and moved to a 3rd world country. By the time they caught up with him, he would've been dead or like 90.
Lock him away forever! We need to show no mercy for child molesters! It is the only way to stop this!
What would it take to get this guy to stop breathing by the end of the day?
I am disappointed that they didn't have him slip and fall into a ditch with several bullets in the back of the head on the way to the airport. I honestly do not think that the victim and her family would have felt bad if they had been told that he had an accident on the way to the airport and as a result would not be coming back to face the charges. This guy looks like a real POS so to hear that he had a mishap would actually come as a relief.
Agree! Would also save the taxpayers some money!
Denverbill2 spot on caught in Guat....This guy ain't let up in 18 yrs...Well,never mind...califas will rehabilitate him into a productive subject,for the likes of Cali...or are you into that socalled rehab thing anymore,since your Broke...Hell,he can become a professor at berkely...
Wow. I've spent quite a bit of my live in Guatemala over the last 20 years, and especially Panajachel. Definitely don't recognize this guy, but it's crazy that they finally caught him.
I wonder if anyone is asking the question .......Does this scumbag have any victims in Guatemala ? They do have children there too......Or does the safety and welfare of those children not matter ? I would bet my left arm that he continued his behavior over the years ....
That is creepy for you to say that others aren't concerned about the safety and welfare of the children in Guatemala! Not our fault if he wasn't caught doing anything over there, is it? The only thing US can do is get him for what he has done here.
Pretty mean, arrogant and presumptuous for you to say such a thing! But, there are always people who want to think they are "better than everyone else," even though they truly are not intelligent enough to look at the whole picture. But, then, if you did you wouldn't be able to put the U.S. and people down, would you? That is your true goal and meaning, of course! Bleh to you!
No ........I just hope that the authorities down there are looking into it ....Based on the article it would appear that they are not. Or is it that this media outlet failed to mention that they were? It would seem likely to me that this individual would continue the behavior no matter what country he was in ....Or do you think he moved to Guatemala and just stopped. You have no idea where I am coming from on this ........so get your head on straight before you puke out nonsense..... My concern is for the kids that were around this animal .
PV,
If so I hope they put him in prison over there. Probably much harsher then the ones here.
I wonder how many more of these scumbags are hiding in these third world countries; mexico is the worst at harboring criminals fleeing the U.S. Kudos to Guatemala for extraditing him, I hope he rots in a cesspool.
Time To Burn.
Yer Pal Always,
Thee
KILL this pr*ck. ZERO tolerance. Just like Paterno.....if the want to build a shrine to honor him, it should be a jail cell with his coffin in it. He may have been a good coach, but he's a POS human being.
Statute of limitations my @$$. I hope there is not one in this case but these people always get off easely.
I don't even want to know how much damage this low-life fungus has caused; while on the run for 18 years. Disgusting!!!!
Thing is, he has been running about for 18 years. How many other victims are out there since he left the country? Once sick, always sick they say. Incurable they say. Maybe Guatemala should have kept him and investigated him a little before giving him up. They may have a bunch of unhappy kids and parents in their little country. I hope not. But if not, why not? He has been out there for 18 years. Just saying.
Maybe not today or tomorrow. But one day.. you will pay for the wrongful things you have done. In this case 18 years.
Child molesters can never be rehabilitated. A child is molested, put him away for life. That we have to pay to keep a pervert off the streets, better than some kid smoking pot. That he will be separated from the general prison population? Doubtful now with the overcrowding of prisons. He may end up at San Quentin or the Feds may charge him with a Federal crime and he will end up in a Federal prison. The latter is no picnic.
Another day, another white child molester...
You are an idiot. You want me to link you to all of the non white child molesters out there? Stop the steriotypes...
Excellent! Fantastic work! Give that FBI lady a promotion. Put that scum bag to death.
Oh good. I am glad they cought him. Unfortunatly, now all of the American working people can support him with our tax dollars. Free food, lodging, a gym, and medical care. Great punishment. Judging by his appearance, jail is going to be a huge step up in living conditions for him. What is wrong with this picture???
I really am happy that he is off the street, but he should be sentanced to a life of hard labor---or let him meet his maker.
There was a time when crimes like this (rape, child molestation, etc.) were capital crimes ... and we had far less of it than we do today. If this creep is guilty and gets convicted, he and others like him should be executed. If nothing else, it eliminates repeat offenses.
It is a huge relief for the victim's families when the "right" perpetrator is finally caught. Nothing is as wonderful then to hear that your perpetrator has been brought to justice. This is something that most victims will never ever experience. Victims who have been violated by one or many perpetrators and have watched everyone of them go on as a free person and go on to hurt others and then those same victims are blamed for the problems, physical and mental, that the perpetrators have forced onto them. Imagine someone putting a victim in a wheelchair and then that same person is watched by the victim to continue a normal life without ever admitting what they did and that same victim is then stigmatized for being in a wheelchair. This also applies to mental conditions that were the result of perpetrator's assaults.
For a victim to see a perpetrator caught and having to pay for what they did: well, it doesn't get better than that.
Saw an article about prisoners that are treated for mental conditions. There are so many victims who have been hurt by perpetrators and they will never see that kind of treatment. In prison those conditions are diagnosed by doctors, therapists. So many victims have been hurt to such a degree that they do not even take advantage of such services, too scared, not sure what to expect. This world is all wrong. Criminals are treated in prison, but their victims suffer on the outside with the same conditions, without paid rent, without paid health care, and often without a job. This surely doesn't make much sense when looking at all of it.
For every criminal that gets caught I am happy for the families and for the victims. Because it is those people who get that little piece of justice they deserve. It shall be cherished if a perpetrator is finally held accountable for all of the actions he or she committed.