Roger Arapis Guilty! Child Molestation

An 86-year-old man accused of molesting a girl he had known through church for 10 years likely will spend the rest of his life in prison.

"The offenses didn't stop when she was 14. In fact, there were probably over 1,000 crimes committed against this person," prosecutor Andrew Isaac said.

Roger Arapis pleaded guilty to 60 felony counts of child molestation and other sex crimes during a court appearance Wednesday. The Santa Cruz man likely will face a sentence of eight to 17 years in prison, although his guilty pleas would add up to a sentence of hundreds of years in prison.

"This is ... a confinement to the Department of Corrections for the rest of his life," Judge Samuel Stevens said in court.

The white-haired Arapis needed to sit during the proceedings and sometimes appeared to have a hard time hearing the judge. Others in the courtroom recoiled and some looked astounded as Stevens read the charges against Arapis, including 50 counts of molesting a child younger than 14 and 10 counts of oral copulation with a minor.

"The offenses didn't stop when she was 14. In fact, there were probably over 1,000 crimes committed against this person," prosecutor Andrew Isaac said.

The District Attorney's Office charged Arapis only with crimes committed before the girl turned 15.

The molestation began in September 1995 when the girl was about 5 years old and continued until at least fall 2004, according to Isaac. The girl, who is now 17 and still lives in the area with her family, told a friend about the abuse earlier this year. The friend, in turn, told her family and they contacted Santa Cruz police.

Arapis, a family friend from church, was arrested in March.

"This was one of those unfortunate situations when the family trusted the wrong person," Isaac said.

Defense attorney Julie Dunger said that Arapis decided to plead guilty to save the girl the trauma of testifying during a trial.

The girl is not being identified because of the nature of the crimes involved.

Arapis, who did not receive a plea deal, also admitted to special allegations that the girl was younger than 14 and that he had "substantial sexual contact" with her. He will be sentenced Jan. 30.