Original Article on Los Angeles Times

Eighteen years ago, a gardener charged with molesting a little girl jumped bail and sent his wife a letter saying he would never return. He was wrong. Authorities on Tuesday said they had apprehended Jeffrey Reid Parish and returned him to the Santa Barbara County Jail. They had found him in a Guatemalan mountain town where he had been living under the name Blake. "Nobody there knew whether it was first name or last," said Det. Ted Toedte of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department. "He was just Blake." FBI agents and Guatemalan police found him in Panajachel, 90 miles west of Guatemala City, where he had scraped by for years doing odd jobs. Toedte said others may be charged on suspicion of helping him to remain at large. Parish had be...(read more)