Child Molester Pleads After 18 Years On the Lam
Santa Barbara – As reported here on July 19th of this year, Jeffrey Reed Parish—after 18 years of living as an expatriate in Guatemala—was tracked down by Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Felony Fugitive Investigators working in concert with the FBI and the Guatemalan National Police, arrested, and transported back to Santa Barbara to face charges of child molestation.
Jeffrey Reed Parish
Appearing in Santa Barbara Superior Court today, Parish pleaded no contest to allegations of a lewd act upon a child with the special allegation of substantial sexual contact. After his return to Santa Barbara last month, Deputy District Attorney Benjamin Ladinig was contacted by four area women who claim to have been victimized as children by Parish nearly twenty years ago when they were all younger than 14 years of age. “It’s a good day for Santa Barbara law enforcement,” Ladinig remarked to the media, adding, “His flight is an indication of his consciousness of guilt.”
That flight from justice in 1994, when he was 47, began with Parish announcing to his family that “he was leaving and never returning,” according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Public Information Officer Drew Sugars in a media statement. Since then, it was believed that Parish was hiding in Mexico. But when Sheriff’s Detective Ted Toedte reviewed the “cold case” file on Parish, he realized that Parish’s mother was still living in Goleta, and he began to interview the 90-year-old about her son. It wasn’t long before Toedte learned that her Guatemalan caretaker, Luis Urbina—subsequently arrested and now awaiting trial on charges of aiding and abetting a fugitive–was helping the mother send Western Union money transfers to her son at an address in Panajachel, Guatemala.
Toedte contacted the FBI and Guatemalan officials, and then personally traveled to the residence address near Lake Atitlan in Panajachel. With multiple law enforcement agencies involved in a stakeout, Toedte said, Parish answered the detective’s knock at the door with “Yeah, I know why you’re here.”
Pursuant to his no contest plea, Parish will be sentenced in his next court appearance in October to 10 years and 8 months in state prison. Upon his release, he will be 75 years old.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
Read more:
Huffington Post: Jeffrey Parish, Accused Child Molestor, Apprehended in Guatemala after 18 Years
Santa Barbara Independent: Former Fugitive Sentenced to 10 Years, 8 Months in Prison
