Convicted abortion clinic arsonist arrested in Pierce County on groping warrant
Feb 11, 2014, 3:40 PM | Updated: 4:31 pm
Several people identified convicted-arsonist Curtis Beseda from a surveillance video, leading to his arrest. (Snohomish County Sheriff's Department)
(Snohomish County Sheriff's Department)
A convicted abortion-clinic arsonist accused of groping an 11-year-old girl at a Snohomish Fred Meyer has been arrested in Pierce County.
Curtis Beseda is accused of molesting the girl Jan. 27 while she was waiting for her father outside the store restroom, and trying to lure her outside.
Several people identified Beseda, 58, from the store’s surveillance tape. He was arrested Monday evening when a Pierce County Sheriff’s officer found him sleeping in his car near Pacific Lutheran University.
Beseda was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for setting fire to abortion clinics in Everett and Bellingham in the 1980s.
The Everett Herald reports the man has been in trouble with the law multiple times since his release from prison in 2003, including an attempted arson charge in Snohomish in 2004 and trespassing and obstruction cases involving an Everett Church in 2004 and 2005.
He was arrested again in 2010 in a Puyallup harassment case and was later convicted of fourth-degree assault and sent to a state mental hospital.
Beseda was being held on a $250,000 arrest warrant at the Pierce County Jail. He is expected to be transferred to the Snohomish County Jail.
