WASHINGTON: Abortion Clinic Arsonist Charged With Child Molestation

A man convicted of firebombing abortion clinics in the 1980s has been charged with molesting an eleven year-old girl.

At least eight people identified Curtis Anton Beseda as the man seen in video surveillance released to the media on Tuesday. Prosecutors on Friday charged Beseda, 58, with first-degree child molestation in connection with the groping.A judge issued a $250,000 arrest warrant for Beseda. Police say he hasn’t returned to his Snohomish apartment in a few days. His vehicle also is missing. Beseda became a convicted martyr for the anti-abortion movement in the 1980s after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for arsons at abortion clinics.

Beseda has long been a hero to the anti-abortion movement.

Beseda was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the 1980s for arsons at abortion clinics which made him a martyr for the anti-chice movement. In fact, Beseda was honored at a national banquet in 1995. When Beseda sent a letter from prison, it was read at the banquet. The letter urged support for Shelly Shannon, an Oregon woman who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for shooting an abortion doctor in Kansas in 1993, as well as setting fire to six abortion clinics.

An interesting story about Beseda's old crimes is here. (Tipped by JMG reader Sarah)