Pierce County sheriff deputies arrested a convicted arsonist for child molestation on Monday when they discovered him sleeping in his minivan on Park Ave. S. near the PLU golf course, according to a Seattle Times article. The office of alumni and constituent relations confirmed that the man, 58-year-old Curtis Beseda, is a PLU class of ’78 alum.
Beseda, who is from Snohomish, made headlines in the 1980s for setting fire to abortion clinics in Everett and Bellingham. He served 12 years in a federal for these crimes and has a history of involuntary mental health evaluations and criminal convictions and has been in and out of jail since his release, the Seattle Times reported.
Beseda allegedly molested an 11-year-old girl at a Fred Meyer store in Snohomish Jan. 27. Police released photos from surveillance cameras and at least eight people identified Beseda.
A Pierce County sheriff’s deputy saw his van, which looked suspicious because of the way it was parked, and ran the license plate number. The deputy discovered the registered owner of the van was wanted on a felony arrest warrant and called for backup to arrest the occupant, according to the Seattle Times.
Jail records show Beseda was booked into the Snohomish County Jail Tuesday morning for child molestation on a $250,000 bail.
