Alleged child abuser arrested in U.K., 8 years after disappearance

A former Orange County choir director who disappeared on the eve of his 2007 trial on charges of sexually abusing a teenage boy has been detained in the United Kingdom, authorities said late Tuesday.

Roger Alan Giese, 39, is in custody and awaiting extradition to the United States, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

For four years starting in 1998, Giese is accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy he met while teaching voice for the All-American Boys Chorus, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

By claiming to belong to the Delta Force military unit, Giese enticed the boy to his home, prosecutors said. Giese then told the teen that he could gain a spot on the Delta Force by handing over his semen, urine, blood and stool samples, prosecutors said.

Giese was arrested in 2002 and charged with 19 felony counts. He was released on bond and regularly attended his court proceedings, but he didn’t show up for a pretrial hearing on March 12, 2007, according to the FBI. Days later, he was charged with unlawfully fleeing prosecution.

Before Giese’s arrest, which was first reported by the Orange County Register, the FBI suspected he had traveled to North Carolina, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas.

The circumstances of Giese’s capture abroad or the exact location were not released.

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