Man, 35, Sentenced to Prison in Molestation

A 35-year-old man who faked his own death to avoid prosecution on child molestation charges was sentenced Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court to 10 years in state prison.

Bob Edward Stephens, once a member of Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles, admitted in July that he molested a boy, now 17, in 1984 and 1985.

Stephens was arrested in January by FBI agents in St. Petersburg, Fla., after the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department received an anonymous tip from a television viewer who saw a profile of Stephens on a television program in September.

Stephens had been charged with child molestation two years ago but fled California while free on bail, authorities said. In an attempt to convince sheriff’s investigators that he had died, Stephens ran death notices in a Newhall newspaper in 1988 and sent suicide notes to relatives. But authorities said they never believed the ruse and had continued to search for him.