OCDA HELPS TRACK DOWN CONVICTED SEXUAL PREDATOR WHO HAD AVOIDED CAPTURE FOR MORE THAN 27 YEARS BY ASSUMING ANOTHER IDENTITY ARRESTED IN FLORIDA, HE WILL BE EXTRADITED TO ORANGE COUNTY FOR SENTENCING

OCDA HELPS TRACK DOWN CONVICTED SEXUAL PREDATOR WHO HAD AVOIDED CAPTURE FOR MORE THAN 27 YEARS BY ASSUMING ANOTHER IDENTITY ARRESTED IN FLORIDA, HE WILL BE EXTRADITED TO ORANGE COUNTY FOR SENTENCING

Santa Ana – George Joseph England, aka Stephen Arthur Seagoe, is in federal custody after being arrested on a yacht in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. England was convicted in October 1977 of three counts of child molestation for molesting three girls ages 8-10 years old. He fled while awaiting sentencing and eluded authorities by assuming a dead child’s identity. He will be extradited to California where he is facing a maximum sentence of at least 6 years in state prison under the laws of California in 1977. The maximum exposure will be litigated. If convicted under today’s laws, he could be facing a maximum sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

England was in the U.S. Army stationed in Vietnam in the mid-1960s.  After getting discharged from the military, he continued to work as a contractor in Vietnam.  In 1972, he returned to the United States with a young girl that he claimed he adopted.  England used his 10-year-old fake daughter to lure three other girls to his motor home in Costa Mesa.  England was convicted of three counts of child molestation on October 21, 1977.

Shortly after fleeing Orange County, England assumed the identity of a deceased 11-month-old child named Stephen Arthur Seagoe, who was born in Oregon on October 5, 1945 and died in Santa Barbara, California on September 18, 1946.  He used this child’s identity to obtain a social security number and a driver’s license in the state of Florida.

England and his fake daughter lived in Florida for the next 27 years. We believe he repeatedly molested Doe between the ages of 5-16. In 1988, then 21-year-old Doe got married and moved out of England’s home. She has not been in contact with England since 1995.

In April 2005, OCDA was contacted by the FBI with critical information about England’s alias and amended the arrest warrant from 1977 to include the name Stephen Arthur Seagoe. On Thursday May 19, 2005, the U.S. Marshal’s office arrested England in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on two counts of passport fraud.

The OCDA would like to acknowledge Special Agent Rob Holland of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (Miami office) and Special Agent John MacVeigh of the West Palm Beach office of the FBI, without their assistance the arrest of England would not have been possible.

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