January 21, 2006

Former area priest arrested

CALIFORNIA
Whittier Daily News

From wire reports

A former Catholic priest who in 2003 managed to avoid prosecution for allegedly sexually abusing children at churches in La Mirada and Pico Rivera was in custody Friday in connection with what authorities indicated is a separate child molestation case.

Michael Stephen Baker, 58, was arrested at 2 p.m. Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of committing lewd acts with a child, said Sgt. Dan Scott of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau.

The arrest "is in connection with the ongoing investigation into allegations of child molestation involving present and former Catholic priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese," the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a statement.

An earlier criminal case against Baker was dismissed in 2003 because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision barring prosecution of decades-old sexual-abuse cases.

Posted by kshaw at January 21, 2006 08:30 AM