Accused Molester Returns to U. S. and Handcuffs

Santa Barbara – In February of 2012, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Detectives began an investigation into allegations that Michael Norris, an elder of the Carpinteria Church of Seventh Day Adventists, had been engaged in the sexual abuse of a female under the age of 14 for a number of years.

Michael Norris, 67

According to SBSD Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, that investigation has ultimately been fruitful with the return of Norris to California.  “Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Detectives were waiting for him,” she reported to the media, when Norris arrived at LAX on a direct flight from Costa Rica.  With SBSD personnel, FBI, and U.S. Customs Agents all boarding the aircraft upon arrival, Norris “surrendered without incident.”  Hoover’s report detailed the coordinated work among multiple local and federal law enforcement agencies, including officials working in Costa Rica with the objective of returning Norris to face his Santa Barbara County charges.  During the course of that protracted investigation, Norris’s whereabouts were constantly monitored and surveilled, “ensuring that he boarded that plane,” Hoover said.

When initially charged with child molestation, Norris fled the jurisdiction and had been living in Quepos, Costa Rica since 2006.  Once an arrest warrant was issued in December 2012, he began negotiating the terms of his arrest and return to Santa Barbara County.  He is now held in custody in Santa Barbara County Jail with bail set at $200,000,  and faces multiple counts of child molestation including continual sexual abuse of a minor, contact with a minor with the intent to commit sexual abuse, distributing and producing pornography to a child, and aggravated assault of a child under 14 years of age.

Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking

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