A Look Back:
The story of George Joseph England is an extraordinary and horrific one.
For nearly 30 years, England, 65, managed to avoid capture from local and federal authorities by stealing the identity of an 11-month-old boy who died in Santa Barbara County in 1946.
He would use that identity to get fake passports and hide out in Florida working as a taxi driver and working for a cell-phone company. Why was he hiding?
Because in 1977, England was convicted of molesting three girls in his Costa Mesa mobile home, which he modified to capture their private moments.
England’s story began when he served in the U.S. Army in the 1960s. He had a tour through Korea and, according to media reports, in Vietnam as well.
Their accounts differ on how he got his first alleged victim, who prosecutors said he would eventually use as bait to sexually abuse other girls. The Orange County district attorney’s office said in a news release he bought a 5-year-old from her mother in Vietnam in 1972, while the Los Angeles Times reported in 2005 that he got her from an orphanage. England was staying in the country as a civilian contractor at the time.
Once England had the girl, whom he called his “daughter,” he moved into a mobile home in Costa Mesa. There, when the girl was between 8 and 10 years old, she was molested almost daily, prosecutors claim. He started giving her alcohol when she was 7, prosecutors claim. In July 1977, England was arrested for molesting three girls between 9 and 10 years old.
He had been using his “daughter” to have friends over and in some cases, molested them while she slept. He drilled a hole in the bedroom wall so he could see into the bathroom and even concealed a camera in there. He wasn’t found out until one of his young victims told her mother because she feared England was going to get her little sister, too, prosecutors said.
England was convicted for the abuse and persuaded a judge to let him out on bail to “settle his affairs” until his scheduled sentencing. England’s affairs apparently included grabbing his “daughter” and high-tailing it out to Santa Barbara County, where he took on the name of Stephen Arthur Seagoe. The real Stephen died when he was 11 months old.
From there, England and his “daughter” went to Florida, where he continued to abuse her until she was 16 years old, authorities said. He remained there until the girl went to authorities years later with her story about England.
In their time together, prosecutors said England impregnated his “daughter” six to eight times and got an abortion every time except once. The girl had a child when she was 13 years old and put it up for adoption, lying to a social worker about how she got pregnant, prosecutors said.
England has a parole hearing scheduled for Monday where he could possibly be released from prison. The Orange County district attorney’s office said they are sending a prosecutor to it to argue for his continued imprisonment.
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