September 18, 2009
Orange County District Attorney's Office
SANTA ANA - The Orange County District Attorney's Office (OCDA) will fight to keep a convicted serial child molester in prison. The inmate, who spent 29 years as a fugitive after being found guilty of sexually assaulting three female children, also molested another young girl, whom he purchased from her mother in Vietnam in the 1970s and claimed was his adopted daughter. He was not sentenced for those crimes because the victim did not report them to law enforcement until the statute of limitations had expired.
After serving only three years in state prison, George Joseph England, 65, is scheduled for a parole hearing Monday, Sept. 21, 2009, at 1:00 p.m. at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad. The defendant was found guilty by a jury in 1977 and the sentence was based on the sentencing laws of 1977, not on a negotiation between the defendant and the People. Senior Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Olivieri of the Special Prosecutions Unit will attend the hearing to oppose parole for England on behalf of the OCDA.
"The only way to stop serial child molester George England is to keep him in prison away from young girls. He has robbed many little girls of a normal childhood, especially Jane Doe, who lives with the guilt and torment caused by the abuse by the man who used her as his possession," stated District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. "The Orange County District Attorney's Office will do everything in our legal arsenal to make sure England never again has access to little girls."
History
England served in the U.S. Army from September 1963 to September 1966, during which his tour-of-duty took him to Korea. In 1966, England was granted an Honorable Discharge, and later returned to Asia and worked in Vietnam as a civilian contractor. In 1972, England met a Vietnamese woman, from whom he purchased her 5-year-old daughter, Jane Doe.
The inmate traveled through Asia with the victim before moving with her to Orange County in the early to mid-1970s. Beginning when Jane Doe was 5 years old, England forced sexual intercourse and other sex acts with the victim approximately five times a week. The inmate plied Jane Doe with alcohol beginning when she was 7 years old.
England constantly encouraged Jane Doe to invite her young female friends from school or the neighborhood to spend the night in their motor home in Costa Mesa. England drilled a hole in the wall from his bedroom into the bathroom in order to watch Jane Doe and her friends. The inmate also mounted a Plexiglas box with a camera concealed inside near the bathtub, which he used to take nude photos of the young girls as they bathed.
While living in Costa Mesa in the mid-1970s, England molested several young girls. Most of these sexual assaults were not reported to law enforcement. In July 1977, England was arrested for molesting three girls ages 9 to 10, after one victim disclosed the assault to her mother for fear that England may gain access to and molest her younger sister.
England was released on bail while awaiting trial for molesting the three girls. While out on bail, the inmate coached Jane Doe on what to say to police and to deny any sexual conduct with him when she testified during trial. England threatened Jane Doe that she would end up being raped by a foster family or be forced into prostitution if she testified against him. He also told her that she would never be adopted because she was too old, and he was the only person who could protect her.
The Sexual Assault Case
Jane Doe was placed in protective custody while England stood trial. As instructed by the inmate, she denied she was molested by England. During the trial, three victims testified that England sexually assaulted them in his motor home between the fall of 1976 and the summer of 1977. All three victims testified that England sexually assaulted them when they spent the night at his house after Jane Doe had fallen asleep.
On Oct. 21, 1997, England was convicted by a jury of three felony counts of child molest for the three known victims. He was never convicted of molesting Jane Doe, as she did not disclose the sexual assault at that time. Pending sentencing, England convinced the judge to let him remain free to settle his affairs. The inmate then removed Jane Doe from protective custody and fled.
29 Years as a Fugitive
Over the next year, England moved with Jane Doe throughout the United States, finally settling in Florida. The inmate assumed the identity of Stephen Arthur Seagoe, a male child born one year after England who died at 11 months old in Santa Barbara. England obtained a birth certificate, social security number, driver's license, and passport under the name Seagoe. He worked as an electrician and enrolled Jane Doe in school.
While living in Florida, the inmate continued to sexually assault Jane Doe almost daily, including forced oral copulation, sexual intercourse, sodomy, and beastiality. England encouraged Jane Doe to play sex games with other children as he watched through a hole he had drilled in the wall.
England impregnated Jane Doe between six and eight times, all resulting in abortions, except for the first pregnancy at 13 years old, which was discovered too far along in the pregnancy for an abortion. England told social workers that Jane Doe had become pregnant after getting drunk at a party and having sex with an unknown male. The social worker believed the story and the baby boy was put up for adoption.
The sexual assaults against Jane Doe continued until the victim was 16 years old, when she threatened to commit suicide. In 1988, when Jane Doe was 21 years old, she married and moved out of England's home. She has not been in contact with England since 1995.
In 1997 and 2003, England renewed the fraudulent passports he had obtained under Seagoe's name. In March 2005, the United States Department of State Diplomatic Security Service learned that England was living under an assumed identity and committing passport fraud. During this same time period, the OCDA began re-investigating the whereabouts of England after Jane Doe confided in a neighbor, an agent with the Federal Bureau of investigation, about the sexual assaults against her. The OCDA and United States Department of State Diplomatic Security Service worked together to locate and arrest the inmate.
England was arrested in Florida in May 2005, at which time he was in possession of dozens of graphic pornographic images and movies of children on his computer.
England pleaded guilty in United States Federal Court to two counts of fraud and misuse of passports and other entry documents on Sept. 15, 2005. He was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison.
Sentencing and the Law
After serving his federal sentence for passport fraud, England was brought back to Orange County to be sentenced for the 1977 child molest conviction. Deputy District Attorney Lynda Fernandez handled the Orange County case.
On Sept. 1, 2006, he was sentenced to three years to life in state prison. Under the sentencing laws of 1977, the maximum sentence England can serve in state prison is six years with a maximum release date of January 2013. If he were to be convicted of the same crimes today, England would face a sentence of 45 years to life in prison based on the One Strike law for allegations of multiple sexual assault victims. The OCDA will file a petition under the Sexually Violent Predator law to keep the inmate in a mental institution when he is done with his sentence.
England has shown a total lack of remorse for his sexual crimes, has never received sex offender treatment while in custody, and refuses to admit to or acknowledge any wrongdoing.