Home Miami Press Releases 2011 Fort Lauderdale Man Sentenced on 1974 and 1977 Child Enticement and Transportation Charges
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Fort Lauderdale Man Sentenced on 1974 and 1977 Child Enticement and Transportation Charges

U.S. Attorney’s Office March 25, 2011
  • Southern District of Florida (305) 961-9001

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and William J. Maddalena, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announce today’s sentencing of defendant George Joseph England, 66, of Fort Lauderdale to 30 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Jose A. Gonzalez. England was convicted on January 5, 2011, after trial, on three counts of enticement of a minor and two counts of transportation of a minor from Asia to California in 1974 and from California to Florida in 1977 for the purpose of having the minor engage in sexual acts. England was also ordered to pay restitution.

According to the indictment and evidence presented at trial, England met the victim in Vietnam in the early 1970’s when the victim was approximately 4 years old. Soon thereafter, England traveled with the victim to Thailand and India, where they lived for approximately two years. While there, England sexually assaulted the victim repeatedly. He also taught her to never trust the police and warned her that without him she would be forced into a life of prostitution.

According to evidence presented at trial, in or around 1974, England transported the victim to Costa Mesa, California, where they lived for the next three years. While in California, England continued to sexually assault the victim. England also encouraged the victim to invite her friends to spend the night in their motor home. England mounted a Plexiglas box with a hidden camera in the bathroom of the motor home so that he could watch the victim and her friends. He also took nude photos of the young girls.

On October 20, 1977, England was convicted by a California jury of molesting three of the victim’s friends, ages 9 to 10 years old. After the verdict, England fled to northern California with the then 10-year-old victim. While in northern California, England obtained the birth certificate of a child named Steven Arthur Seagoe who had died soon after childbirth. England then assumed Seagoe’s identity. England also gave the victim a new name before boarding a bus bound for Ft. Lauderdale. An arrest warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear for sentencing in the California case.

According to evidence presented during the trial, soon after arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, England continued to sexually assault the victim almost daily. In 1980, the victim became pregnant at that age of 13. She gave birth to child in September of 1981. DNA tests confirmed that England is the biological father of that child. The defendant impregnated the victim several more times over the course of the next four years. The defendant instructed the victim to terminate each pregnancy. According to the victim, the last abortion occurred in 1986 when she was 18 years old. Soon thereafter, the victim warned England that she would kill herself if he did not stop molesting her. The victim moved out of England’s residence when she got married in 1988. She terminated all contact with him in 1994.

According to evidence presented during the trial, in 2004, the victim disclosed the abuse to the FBI and provided information on England’s alias to assist law enforcement in arresting him on the outstanding California arrest warrant from 1977. On May 18, 2005, agents from the Diplomatic Security Service and Department of Homeland Security arrested England at his home in Ft. Lauderdale. He was charged with having obtained a passport in his false name. In July 2005, England pled guilty to passport fraud. He was later sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment.

After serving the passport fraud sentence, England was extradited to California and sentenced to three consecutive terms of three years to life imprisonment on the 1977 child molestation case from which he had fled to Ft. Lauderdale. After serving almost four years of that sentence, he was scheduled to be released from jail in California on March 12, 2010. Prior to his release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida filed a complaint charging England with offenses related to his enticement and transportation of the victim.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Diplomatic Security Service, and Department of Homeland Security. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Dispoto and Corey Steinberg.

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