Morgan Hill Man Arrested For Child Molestation After Chase
MORGAN HILL (BCN) - Officers arrested a 28-year-old man for child molestation Tuesday following an alleged three-week stint of sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl, Morgan Hill police said.
Police first received a report that Morgan Hill native Michael Evans was involved in sexual relations with a juvenile girl on Jan. 21, but believe that the two had had sexual encounters throughout the month.
"Evans had been living with the girl's family," Morgan Hill police Lt. Jerry Neumayer said. "I mean, there was some sort of trust there."
At about 4 p.m. Tuesday, Morgan Hill police detectives tricked Evans into meeting them at a Starbucks at 17015 Walnut Grove Drive.
"We had contacted him before, but he was reluctant to meet," Neumayer said. "We had to ruse him."
When asked to return to the police station for questioning, officers said Evans told them he could not go back to jail and took off on foot toward U.S. Highway 101.
Police gave chase, following him eastbound toward the highway.
Over the course of the quarter-mile pursuit, Evans was struck by a van as he was running across an off-ramp on southbound U.S. Highway 101, but police said that he got back up and kept running.
Officers caught him just before he crossed the freeway. He was transported to the San Jose Regional Hospital to be treated for a laceration on his forehead.
He was later booked into the Santa Clara County Jail and is being held on charges of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years old.
Anyone with information about the incident or who could also have been a victim of Evans' is encouraged to call Morgan Hill police Detective Carson Thomas at (408) 779-2101.
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