" Pedophile Priest" Arrested at Pelican Hills, Oc Weekly Reports

Corona Del Mar Today
September 11, 2012

http://www.coronadelmartoday.com/30910/home/pedophile-priest-arrested-at-pelican-hills-oc-weekly-reports/

A former priest who pleaded guilty five years ago to 12 felony counts of sexually abusing boys was arrested last month at the Resort at Pelican Hill, the OC Weekly reported today.

Michael Stephen Baker was arrested Aug. 17 after probation officers found him next to a pool where children were swimming, the Weekly reported. He now is in jail, according to online records.

"Baker pleaded guilty in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2007 to 12 felony counts of oral copulation with a person under the age of 18 for abusing two boys he met during the 1980s," the Weekly reported. "His original sentence was 10 years, but California justice being as skewed as it is, he was released just last year."

Corona del Mar resident and lawyer John Manly, who specializes in sexual abuse cases, said he was appalled that Baker was a mile from his home, near children playing in a pool. Manly said he has two cases against Baker that are scheduled to go to trial in November.

"I have to give credit to the parole officers who tracked him there and got him," Manly said. "They did a good job. But there is something fundamentally wrong with our system that he could do this. He's a really, really dangerous pedophile. The fact that he's a mile from my house is not exactly reassuring."