LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By a Times Staff Writer
A former priest who was allowed to remain in the ministry after admitting to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony that he had molested children was arrested this afternoon on charges of multiple molestations.
Michael Stephen Baker, 58, was arrested as he stepped off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport after a flight from Thailand.
The victim was first molested in 1984, before he reached age 13, and was sexually abused for the next 12 years, according to Sgt. Dan Scott, of the special victims unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The charges were based on multiple interviews with the victim, other people, and items seized when authorities searched residences of Baker in Huntington Beach and La Mirada.
"There are multiple counts of lewd acts upon a child, ranging from fondling up to major sex acts," Scott said.
The alleged molestations occurred throughout Southern California.