Voice Coach Who Fled To UK Before Child Molestation Trial Held On $60M Bail
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — A fugitive wanted for molesting a boy while working as a voice coach for a famous children's choir has been brought back to the U.S. was in court Monday.
Roger Giese, now 43, fled the U.S. in 2007 – abandoning his family – and was subsequently placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list. He left the country just before he was set to be put on trial for child molestation.
He was ordered held on $60 million bail pending his arraignment, which was rescheduled to Aug. 29.
Prosecutors say Giese sexually abused the 13-year-old boy between 1998 and 2002, first befriending his family, then while coaching him through the All-American Boys Chorus in Buena Park. Giese allegedly told the boy he was secretly a part of an elite military unit and told the boy he could join by providing bodily fluids.
Authorities found Giese in 2013, living in a small town in the English countryside. He had been working for a PR firm under a different name and with a woman who didn't know his real identity.
Giese had fought extradition but last year, a British judge agreed to extradite him. He was booked at Orange County jail Friday.